


Danganronpa: Blood meets Water.

by Cheesefestivities



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Dangan Ronpa & Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, Fan Dangan Ronpa, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 09:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10487322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheesefestivities/pseuds/Cheesefestivities
Summary: Your standard Fanganronpa. Or so it appears...Natsumi  Kikuchi, the SHSL Lawyer, is accepted into Hope's Peak academy. I'm sure you know what happens next, right?A killing game, duh. Are you new to this series or something? A killing game filled with assholes, crazy serial killers, robot bears, protagonists, ahoges, and despair.





	1. Chapter 1: The end of the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my first work as a writer, so any criticism would be greatly appreciated! Also, though I don't exactly know how this website works, so tell me if I'm doing something obviously wrong! Thank you!

    I stepped up to the golden gates, taking in a deep breath. “This was it”, I thought to myself. “Hope’s Peak Academy”.  
The place where I could finally get a break. The one place on Planet Earth that I could consider my “happy place”. I honestly thought of it as a home, more than anything. The place where I could just take it all in. So yeah, Hope’s Peak. Although you must know all about it already, Hope’s peak is a very… special school. To get in you need 2 things. 1) You must be a current high schooler, and 2) You must be the very best at what you do. I’m sure you’ve heard that enough times by now to get the gist. They cram it into your heads from the first time you set foot in Japan. I’ve always questioned the vagueness of it though, you know? “The very best at what you do” could mean a ton of things. What if what you do is be lazy? Can you be the SHSL Lazy person? Sorry, I tend to go on tangents sometimes.  
Well on one particular day, unlike the rest, I stepped inside of those gates to find something entirely different. I’m sure you can already predict what’s coming, right? The mutual killing game. But I suppose we’ll get to that later. I should introduce myself first, anyway.  
I am Natsumi Kikuchi, or as I’m known to most of the world, because of some brilliant marketer, Nat “Sue Me”. I’ve won 53 landmark court cases, only ever losing once in my career, but that’s a story for another time. All of this has earned me the title of “SHSL Lawyer”. It’s honestly the worst thing about this school, the “Super High School Level” garbage. It’s such a mouthful to say. Also, why not “attorney” or literally any phrase other than “lawyer”? I mean, that’s what I am, but everyone sees lawyers like the scum of the Earth, and I always get hate for it. I’m getting really off track, aren’t I?  
I’m also sure you know all about Future, and Despair, and Hope, and all that other bullshit. Well if you’re looking for any of that, it’s probably not here. This story is hopeless. But I wouldn’t exactly call it despairful either. Honestly, those words are getting kind of annoying anyway.It’s such a cliche at this point. But why don’t we just skip the rest of this and get to the stuff you care about? The game, right?

I open my eyes in a dark room. Sleeping on a wet bed is always a shitty place to start your morning, especially when you know why it’s wet. Honestly, I never found out. And I don’t want to know either. Anyway, I’m in some metal room, with another metal door keeping me shut inside. “What the hell!?” I say audibly, because apparently I’m the main character in every horror movie ever. I start taking in my surroundings. There’s no windows, always a bad sign. There’s another metal nightstand, what is it with this place and metal? I’m honestly shocked the bed’s not made of metal too. Reaching inside of the nightstand, I pull out a key. ‘Perfect! The exit’ I think to myself, having a horrible feeling that I won’t be getting out of here any time soon.  
But just as I reach to open the door, it Creeeeeeeeeeeaks open, revealing a pair of eyes. Now, I’m not the best at first impressions, but that’s probably the creepiest thing I’d ever seen. Like, what kind of asshole intentionally makes it look creepy? Who goes up to someone who was just kidnapped and is like “Yeah, I’m gonna go fuck with that person. That’s such a great idea!” So anyway, I did what any sane person would do.  
I kick the door down, and start strangling a boy dressed in all black.  
“And who do you think you are, kidnapper?” I say, angrily.  
“I…” He gasps for breath.  
My eyes widen, and I let him go, dropping him to the floor. Ohfuckohfuckohfuck is he dead? I think I killed him. I reach down to feel his pulse. Phew, he’s okay. I really wouldn’t like to have to defend myself in court...  
“Oh, thank god! I thought you were dead!” I say to him  
The boy angrily stands up and dusts himself off. “Not dead. Just annoyed.”  
“R-Right. Yeah, sorry about that. What’s your name?” I ask, nervously.  
“Len Tatane. SHSL Thief.”  
TITLECARD WHOOOSHHH “Len Tatane-SHSL Thief”  
“SHSL? You’re a Hope’s Peak student?” I say, curiously.  
“Yes, I assumed you would be too. You certainly sound like one…”  
“Oh, yeah. I am! The name’s Natsumi Kikuchi!”  
“Hmm, very interesting. I can’t believe we have a lawyer in our midst…”  
“Wha!? Have you heard of me? It was probably that dumb ‘Sue Me’ add, right?”  
“No. I read it in your wallet. This thing is much too crowded…” He pulls out a red leather wallet, and I immediately start yelling in response.  
“HEY! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU-!?”  
“No, no, no. A good thief, like a magician, doesn’t tell their victims how the trick works.”  
“...Magicians don’t have victims.”  
“Well some do. You’re just not talking to the right magicians!”  
“I don’t want to talk to those kind of magicians!”  
“Oh, I’m sure you do. This here says you’ve never been arrested.” He is holding some sort of ID.  
“Wha-Hey! That’s private! Give that back!” As you can tell, I am not a patient girl.  
“Aha~” Len giggled, like the smug little bastard he is. “It won’t be quite that simple, dear.”  
“Well how’s this for simple? Give it back now before I pound your skull in!”  
“Ah, interesting. Using intelligence worthy of the SHSL Lawyer I see. You truly do have a way with words.”  
“Just gimme back my wallet, Jackass!”  
At this point, Len has stripped the wallet of all of the money inside. He hands her the wallet. “We should return to the others, no?”  
“Others?” I say, seething with rage.  
“Yes, others. I assumed there would be 16 of us total, similar to a Hope’s Peak class. But it appears a class is here, along with some random high schooler. And no, that is not in reference to the lucky student.”  
“Oh… So we’re all SHSLs?”  
“It would be easier if you just followed me. All shall be explained momentarily.” Len takes me  out of her room and into the hall. Through here, I see a normal hallway, aside from the metal walls. Len takes me through one door into some kind of central area, and in there, I saw them.

The SHSL students. (Students)

    I felt it that day. The feeling one can only dream to feel. Even though I said you wouldn’t find any, I think I felt an overwhelming amount of hope as to who was standing here. And not just them. Me. I managed to get here on my own merit. I think that’s the most hope I’ve ever felt. It’s a shame how fast that hope can fall, isn’t it?

    “We have a seventeenth, it seems. This one’s a lawyer.” Len says, with that smug-ass grin he always has plastered on.  
    A girl steps forward, who is relatively normal. That is, if not for the bow strapped to her back and the almost rabid looking dog at her feet. “Name, please” she barks at me.  
    “Uh… Natsumi Kikuchi! SHSL Lawyer, ma’am!” Wait. Why am I saluting her? She’s no better than that asshole thief.  
    “You can do without the formality, Kikuchi. I am known as Nagato Wasite, the SHSL Huntress. I hope we can get along well in here.”  
    TITLECARD TIME AGAIN WHOOOOSHITY WHOOSH “Nagato Wasite-SHSL Huntress”  
    “H-Huntress!? Like, hunter of animals, or…”  
“What do you think?” she responds, serious in tone.  
“Uh… You don’t, like…” gulp “hunt people, do you?”  
    “You know, I’d watch out if I were you. Father always told me to never trust a lawyer.” She interrupts, in a monotone and shockingly serious voice.  
    “G-Gah!” I yell in fear. “Please don’t hurt me!”  
    Nagato giggled playfully. “Don’t worry. I’m just messing with you.”  
    “O-oh. I see.” What is it with these people and being incredibly creepy? “So… does anyone know why we’re here?”  
    “Not a clue.” she responds dryly. “We all woke up about an hour or less than you, and you appear to be the last one, based on the number of rooms.”  
    “...So we were all kidnapped then?” I ask, scared.  
    “Yes, it would appear so. In a moment, we should start looking for food and water. Possibly air, depending on the environment we’re in.”  
    “Oh! I have some trail mix in my bag!” I say as I pull out a small bag of trail mix. Suddenly, the dog at her feet starts barking like crazy.  
    “Hush, Karu! You’re gonna-” she said, trying to hush her dog, as she was interrupted.  
    “M-MASTER!” a boy yelled from somewhere behind, running to the front of the crowd. If he got on all fours, I’m sure I couldn’t tell the difference between him and Nagato’s dog…  
    “Be careful!” He said, putting his arm in front of her. “She’s dangerous!”  
    “What? Me?” I ask, confused.  
    “Yes, you! I can tell by your face! You’re, uh, super suspicious! Yeah!” he says, nervously.  
    “Dangerous? The girl with the ribbon? I’m sure she wouldn’t hurt a fly, Gatchi.” Nagato replies. Len could be heard in the distance mumbling angrily, of course.  
    “Are you sure?” he asks. “I-I could take her down if you needed me to!”  
“Gatchi, calm down. She’s not going to hurt us.”  
    “She’s not!?” He turned to me. “Sorry, Miss. I tend to overreact a bit around new people. I’m Gatchi Kanezo! Pleased to make your acquaintance!” He bows.  
    TITLECARD WHOOOOSHADOOSH “Gatchi Kanezo-SHSL Sprinter”  
    “And do you have a talent?” Natsumi interjected.  
    “Oh, yes. Hope’s Peak calls me the SHSL Sprinter! I got to compete in the Olympics once! It was super fun!” he replied, almost barking his words at me.  
    “An Olympian!? Well then you definitely deserve to be here. I’m just some lawyer. Nothing particularly special.”  
    “What is that supposed to mean? Everyone here is special in their own way! ...That’s what master says, at least!” he yells.  
    “...And who is master?”  
    “He’s referring to me.” Nagato answers.  
    “Yes! Master Wasite’s going to teach me to hunt!” he says, excitedly.  
    “That’s only once we escape, Gatchi. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”  
    “Oh, right! Of course!” Gatchi turns to Len. “Were there only 17 rooms?” he asks.  
    “Seventeen rooms and seventeen picked locks, yes.” He giggles to himself.  
    “Fantastic. Then we should start exploring, no?” She says.  
    “Y-Yeah! You all heard master! Start exploring!” Gatchi says, stiff as an arrow.  
    The crowd quickly disperses, leaving me at a loss for where to go. The three that I’ve already met appear to be staying here, so where should I go next? Well, I guess it doesn’t matter yet. First there’s the hallway to go through.

    As I pass through the halls, I carefully tread through the doorways, trying to avoid as many of these crazy people as possible.  
    “Oh, hey!” a girl’s voice cries out from behind me. Shit. I’m caught. I turn around to see… a midget? I guess “loli” is a more accurate term, but she doesn’t exactly seem like one, personality wise...  
    “Oh. Great. Another new person. Hi.” I respond sarcastically, looking the girl over.  
    “You’re that lawyer girl, right?”  
    “Yeah. I am. What of it?” she said defensively.  
    “Well that’s a shame. I was really hoping I could like you.”  
    “H-Huh!? You got something against lawyers?”  
    “Lawyers are only pawns to the real government. The shadow players.”  
    “...I’m sorry?”  
    “You should be! You get paid for acting, pretending to swoon a judge! But I see through your lies!”  
    “...” Natsumi sat in silence for a moment, pondering a simple question: ‘Is this girl on drugs?’. “..Right. And you are?”  
    “Psh. As if you’ve never heard of me. Rise Minatame, SHSL Speaker of the Truth.”  
    TITLECARD TIME BOIS WOOOOOOOSH “Rise Minatame-SHSL Conspiracy Theorist.”  
    “...I’m very confused. What do you mean by ‘Speaker of the Truth’?”  
    “What do you think it means, Knucklehead!? I tell people the hidden truths in society! I expose the lies that everyone takes for granted! I’m not crazy, trust me!”  
    “Sure you’re not. And I’m from Saturn.”  
    “You might be! It’s a double bluff, I bet!”  
    “...What?”  
    “You said that you were an alien, implying sarcasm, but what if that’s the secret! You are an alien, and you’ve abducted us to this metal building to probe us for our talent!”  
    “That’s insane!”  
    “Tell that to an award-winning journalist!”  
    “...You’re kidding. You won an award for journalism? You, out of all people?”  
    “What’s that supposed to mean!?”  
"It mean's that you're a spoiled brat who needs to learn her place."  
"Wh-What!? You bitch!"  
    You know what? Maybe I should just end this conversation before things get too crazy. I'm just going to walk away now.  
"H-Hey!" she yells after me. Where do you think you're going?"  
Luckily, I can tune her out.Anyway, there’s a map here. Where should I go first? ...I guess the dorms is the best place to start, right?  
    There were 17 dorms here, with males on the left half, females on the right half, and a central dorm labeled “The Fist of Justice”, which is incredibly ominous. Upon entering the dorms, there are a boy and a girl arguing, while another girl silently smokes in the background. Although I don’t smoke, I go to her to avoid the conflict.  
    I walk up to her and nudge her. “Hey. Have we met?”  
    She takes a step to the side. “Personal space, please.”  
    “Oh, right, sorry. I should be more respectful of that kind of stuff…”  
“Yeah. You should.” she says, lighting her cigarette again.  
“I’m Natsumi Kikuchi, the SHSL Lawyer. You?”  
    “Yukiko Otume. Pediatrician. I’m skippin’ the Ess-Aych-Ess-Ell bullshit, since it’s pointless anyway.”  
    TITLECARD SHOOPDAWOOSH “Yukiko Otume-SHSL Pediatrician”.  
    Finally, someone agrees with me! I thought I was the only one getting tired of saying that. But I should probably find out more about her, right?  
    “Hey. So tell me about yourself!”  
    “Huh? What’s there to tell? I’m a fuckin’ pediatrician. That’s it. I got nothin else goin’ for me.” She lights another cigarette and looks off to the distance quietly.  
    “Well why a pediatrician? You don’t exactly look like one.”  
    “What? You want me to tell my fuckin’ life story? No thanks, lawyer.”  
...She seems pretty aggravated, it’s probably best to let her be alone. I should just-  
    “Ayy, Lass!” God damnit. The guy who was arguing just stormed over here. “Do ye ‘ave a minute er two?” he says, talking like a pirate.     
    “What’s with the accent?” Yukiko says. “It makes you out to be a joke.”  
    “Yarr, and I could say the same thing about ye! Smokin’s bad for yer health, ya know.”  
    “Yeah, and I’m sure the metal leg is too, captain.” she responds sarcastically.  
    And he’s taking it seriously. “Yarr, thank ye fer callin’ me cap’n. Not many a’ ye landlubbers can respect a sailer such as me self.”  
    “...You know that was supposed to sarcastic, right?” I ask.  
    “I’m not gettin’ involve in one a ye’ silly landlubber arguments.” He turns to me. Oh god. “Ayy, and who’re you?”  
    “Uh, I’m Natsumi Kikuchi. Lawyer.” Yeah, it sounds way cooler without the ‘SHSL’, doesn’t it?  
    “The name’s Biāro Metaru! The noisiest cap’n to ever sail the seven seas!”  
    TITLECARD? YOU BETCHA! “Biāro Metaru-SHSL Fisherman”.  
    Ugh, I always hated the whole pirate schtick. It’s really annoying.  
    “But like, are you actually a pirate?”  
    “Narr, but I wish!” he says, a large grin plastered on his face. “Those wer’ the golden ages, lass!”  
    “...Right. What are you and that other girls arguing about?”  
    “Yes. And why did you leave me behind again, Metaru?” the girl he was arguing with asks.  
    “Oh, right.” The captain says. “Do ye lasses tank whales count as people er’ no?”  
    Huh? Whales? “...I mean, no. But you also shouldn’t kill them.” I answer.  
    “What?” Says Metaru and the mystery girl simultaneously. I look to my right for help, only to see that Yukiko already snuck out. Fuck everything.  
    “Did… Did I say something wrong?” I ask nervously.  
    “No, you’re fine, sweetheart. Anyone can voice their opinions, no matter how little sense they make!”  
“Uh...”  
“Don’t worry, sweetie. Not everyone can be as morally justified as me.”  
...Does this girl have some kind of moral complex?  
“Allow me to introduce myself.” says the girl, extending a hand to me.  
    “Oh, okay. Natsumi Kikuchi. Lawyer.”  
    “Oh, are we leaving out the ‘SHSL’? Interesting. In that case, I’m Maya Tsutero, Philanthropist.”  
    YOU WANT A TITLECARD? WELL YOU’RE GETTIN’ ONE! “Maya Tsutero-SHSL Philanthropist”  
    Philanthropist? Isn’t that just someone who donates to charity? How can you be a SHSL in that? ...She must be quite the activist in that case.  
    “And you’re a lawyer? Interesting. I’ve always wanted to try and fix Japan’s corrupt legal systems, but I never had the time to do so…”  
    “What!? Corrupt? How dare you!”  
    “Oh? You think you’re not basically criminals? You take money from criminals to keep them from punishment by falsely convincing others that they’re innocent. How is that not, by definition, corrupt?”  
    What is it with girls these days and complaining about the legal system? Rise did it too…  
    “Now ye see wat I was dealin’ with, lass!” Biaro barks from the corner.  
    “So you’re a philanthropist?” I say, ignoring whatever was spewing out of Biaro’s mouth.  
    “Yes, dear. I donate to charity. And even have a few of my own!”  
    “Wow! Seriously?” Maybe she’s not that bad after all…  
    “Yes, of course I’m serious. Why would I lie about such a thing?”  
    “...It’s an expression.” I say, confused.  
    “Oh, is it? Sorry, I’m not one for conversations with those at lower status than me, usually.” Well that’s rude.  
    “...Yeah. I’m just gonna go.” I say as I walk out backwards.  
    “You have a nice night, darling.” says Maya, chuckling.  
    “Yarr, what the rich girl said!” Biaro says, grinning.  
     
Hmm... the mailroom seems interesting. I wonder why there would be a mail room here?  
  This seems to be a pretty straightforward mailroom; In here there are 17 mailboxes, along with envelopes, stamps, boxes, and tape. There’s really not that much interesting stuff going on, outside of the people in here. Immediately, as soon as I enter, I can hear yelling.  
    “You really don’t have any ways of contacting home? Your phone? Anything?” a boy says, wearing the most annoying suit I’ve ever looked at.  
    “N-No… They must have taken my phone…” a girl says, dressed in some weird black suit covered in balls. I think I’ve seen those before. What are they called again? Mocap suits? I dunno.  
    “You really are a fuckup, aren’t you?” the boy says, shaking his head disapprovingly.This guy seems like such an asshole.  
    “Y-yeah… I really am…” says the girl in response. I don’t care what’s going on, these two are in a bad relationship already and need to be separated.  
    “Hey!” I shout to them. “I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I?”  
    “No, you have not.” the boy sneers. “And I would prefer that you didn’t.” I was right. Asshole.  
    The girl looks like she’s about to say something, but stops herself.  
    “You may, however, know our names. I am Hidetsugu Fukui, though you and most others call me by my screen name, ‘The Reaper of Films.’”  
    TITLECARDERINO WOOOOOOSH “Hidetsugu Fukui-SHSL Critic.”  
    The Reaper of Films? That’s the most pretentious garbage I’ve ever heard. Of course he’s a critic.  
    “This here, is my useless sister, Umeko. Say hello, Umeko.”  
    “Uh, h-hi the-”  
    “That’s enough.”  
    SAD TITLECARD FOR UMEKO “Umeko Fukui-SHSL Puppeteer”  
    Oh, I see. So they’re siblings.That explains quite a bit. Otherwise, I don’t know how he could get away with half of this stuff…  
    “So I guess your family’s really into show business, then? You were bothe raised in the movie industry, it seems.”  
    Reaper grins. “You could say that, yes.” Why is it that I feel like everything he says is some kind of hidden code? Like he knows something more than the rest of us? What a dick.  
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”  
    Umeko speaks up. “W-Well… Our Dad’s a famous director…”  
    Oh. That’s where I recognized Fukui from. He’s probably the most famous director of all time… I guess I should probably watch more movies, shouldn’t I? Well it’s not like I have a ton of free time...  
    “Umeko, please. We don’t give straight answers, remember? The pronoun game is much more fun.”  
    “Oh… Sorry…”  
    “You should be, you miserable waste of life.”  
    “You know, you should stop insulting your sister like that…” I interject.  
    “These are not insults, Miss Lawyer. These are simply criticisms, as is my job to point them out.”  
    I wish I could emphasize how much of an asshole he was, but I physically can’t put it into words. His sneer was equivalent to 3 atomic bombs’ worth of jerkitude.  
    “But these are just baseless opinions!” I say, pointing.  
    “Baseless? Please. She’s the most useless person in our family.” he responds, dryly.  
    “But I’d imagine she makes way more money than you ever would. A critic can’t have that good of a salary, can he?”  
    Reaper, who I am no longer going to call that name because of how annoying he is, shakes his head. “No, sadly. I also have to work as a manager for this useless piece of garbage. Isn’t that right, Umeko dear?”  
    “I-I guess, but wh-”  
    “That’s enough.”  
    Umeko goes quiet whenever he says that. I feel like there’s some sort of darker side to their relationship, but I wouldn’t touch that with a 39 and a half foot pole. Anyway, I decided to leave back to the halls and check out another room. How about the cafeteria? Hopefully there’s something not as disturbing in there...

    This cafeteria is huge! There’s a large stage here, complete with a piano, and there are 4  tables seating four students. I guess someone won’t get a seat, huh… Anyway, that’s not important. There’s two guys talking on stage.  
    “I’m telling you, my talent is not to be used for such purposes!” Says one of them, who is wearing some kind of Kimono.  
    “Come on, man! Comedy hypnotism is great!” says another one of them, with an incredibly fake-looking smile. These two don’t look that bad.  
    “Hey, uh, excuse me? Can I introduce myself?” I say, interrupting their conversation.  
    “A-Ah!” the boy in the kimono says, and then repeatedly starts bowing to me. “I am sorry! I did not see you there! Please, forgive me for taking light of your presence!”  
    “Uh, okay. I forgive you.”  
    “You do!? Thank you so much. I owe you now.”  
    “...! You really don’t…”  
    “But I do! You have forgiven me, and I must be your faithful servant!”  
    “...How about you just tell me your name.”  
    “As you wish. I am Takauji Hakayama, SHSL Hypnotist. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”  
    TITLECARD WHIPWOPOOOOOSHIE “Takauji Hakayama-SHSL Hypnotist”.  
    “Hypnotist? I thought hypnotism was just some sci-fi trope.”  
    “Wh-wha!? No, of course not! Hypnotism is very real, I assure you!”  
    “Well then why won’t you do a show with me?” The other boy pouts.  
    “Because I’m not a stage hypnotist. I’m a medicinal hypnotist. I help my customers stop addictions and other awful habits they may have.”  
    “Wow, really?” I say, surprised.  
    “Aww… But that’s so boring!” says the other boy, almost like a spoiled child.  
    “Boring? I assure you, it is anything but boring.” Hakayama responds.  
    “Who even are you, if you find something like that boring?” I ask, curious.  
    “Oh, right. I haven’t said my name. You can call me Rei, cuz I’m a ray of sunshine.” He says, smirking.  
    TITLECARD? WHAAAAASH? “Rei Nanatame-SHSL Comedian”  
    A comedian, eh? Hopefully he’s not too much of a wiseguy…  
    “And do you have a talent, miss?”  
    “Oh, yeah. Lawyer.”  
    “Lawyer? You mean the devil himself?”  
    “...”  
    “Nah, I’m just messin’ with ya. Lawyers aren’t the worst people on the planet, even if they are kinda low on the totem.”  
    “...Wow. Thanks.” I say, seething.  
    “No problem!” He says, chuckling to himself.  
    Why are so many people here acting like Jackasses? Whatever. I’m done talking to this prick.  
    “I’m gonna keep exploring for a bit. Have a nice day, you two.”  
    “You too, Lawyer.” says Rei.  
    “Again, thank you for your forgiveness!” says Haka, bowing repeatedly.  
    I walk out, done with everyone’s bullshit at this point.  
This appears to be an enormous kitchen, filled with any kind of cooking utensil and ingredient you could imagine. It’s ridiculously large. There are 3 counters, 4 stovetops, 2 ovens, and a large sink. Two girls appear to be talking about something.  
    “You know I don’t give in to perverts like yourself, right?” Says a girl in a top hat and long, flowing red dress.  
    “Oh, but darling, please. The fun hasn’t even started yet!” said the other in a surprisingly masculine voice.  
    “I don’t care. I’m not ‘having fun’ with a man whose hair is longer than mine.”  
    Wait a second… IS THAT A MAN!?  
    “Oh? You see this as a sign of weakness? Please. Hair is my art form.”  
    “An art form? Really? It’s dead skin cells. You’d get the same effect with human corpses.”  
    “Please, darling. Don’t be so morbid. You can be morbid during our fun time, alright?”  
    Okay, I’m ending this.  
    “What are you two talking about?” I interrupt.  
    “Oh, another one!” Says the feminine man. “Perhaps a threeway is on the horizon, hmm?”  
    “What!?” I yell in shock.  
    ‘Exactly what it sounds like, dear. We could have much fun together, you and I~”  
“ You asshole!” I yell back.  
    “Asshole is a strong word, dear. A word that should only be reserved for those who call another person an asshole. Besides, you don’t even know my name, do you?”  
    “I’m not sure she wants to…” says the other girl.  
    “Well too bad. I’m Maso Kuriga, the greatest hairstylist in Japan.”  
TITLECRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD “Maso Kuriga-SHSL Hairstylist”.  
“A hairstylist? Really?”  
He looks back in shock. “Yes, really! Why would that surprise you?”  
“Because your hair right now looks like you dropped a plate of spaghetti on your forehead.” I say, causing the other girl to snicker a bit.  
“How dare you!? If you continue to insult my art form like this, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll ruin your hair!”  
“Oh no, we’re so threatened…” says the other girl, smirking and boredly looking at her watch.  
“Why you~! I’m not dealing with this torment any longer.” He gets up to leave, and thankfully leaves the room.  
I turn to the other girl. “So I don’t think we’ve been introduced, have we?”  
“No, we haven’t. I am the Amazing Fuji Rono!” she says, grinning.  
TITLECARD BB “Fuji Rono-SHSL Escape Artist”  
Fuji Rono? Isn’t that some escape artist with a show in Tokyo? If so, that’s really impressive.  
“Hey, don’t you have a show in Tokyo?”  
“I did at one point, yeah. But a trick went awry and I got fired. Luckily, Hope’s Peak found me before I left for good.”  
“Yeah, that is pretty lucky!”  
“What about you?”  
“Huh? Me? No one else here has asked me about myself…”  
“Well I guess I’ll be the first then, huh?”  
“...Yeah, I guess. I just don’t have an answer.”  
“Oh, I see then. That’s fine if you’re not comfortable talking about yourself. Truth be told, neither am I…”  
We stand in awkward silence for a minute.  
“Welp. I guess I should keep exploring.”  
“Yeah, you do that. I’ll keep looking around in here.”  
“Oh, alright! Have a nice time then!” she says, distracted by the cooking utensils.  
I leave and keep looking around. I wonder if anyone found anything?

-Downstairs there are actually two rooms. One is labeled “Water Filtration Center”. The other is simply labeled “storage”, and is off limits to us. Standing in front of storage, however, is a shorter boy wearing a bow. He looks incredibly confused.  
“Hello? Kid with the bow?” I yell to call his attention.  
The boy turns around. “Oh. Hi there.” He then turns away from me again, pretending I didn’t exist. He seems to be completely uninterested in me. I should probably try to grab his attention.  
“HEY! BOW BOY!” I yell even louder.  
He turns around frustrated. “Yes? What do you want?”  
“I just wanted to introduce myself..”  
“Oh… Okay. Shion Akaji. There, we’re done, right?”  
OOH MYSTERY TITLECARD “Shion Akaji-SHSL ???”  
“Uh, I guess. What’s your talent?”  
“I said. We. Are. Done. Got it?”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Aside from the fact that I’m not talking to you? Gee, I dunno…”  
“God, you’re such an ass already… Look, can you just tell me your talent and we’ll be done?”  
He doesn’t respond.  
“Oh, now you’re ignoring me? Wow, real mature, Shion. You must be the SHSL Debater with how much you’re totally winning in this argument…”  
He still won’t respond.  
“HEY! NEWSFLASH! YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE!”  
He still doesn’t respond.  
“How about this: You wanna be alone?”  
He nods.  
“...Okay then. I’ll just let you be alone then.”  
“Fine.”  
...What a paranoid guy. He won’t talk to anyone, he won’t trust them. Maybe he thinks one of us trapped him here? I guess that’s possible, but it’s unlikely.

Anyway, over to the water place and I see a huge tank of water. Not just that, but holyshitthat’sarobot. There’s just a robot there. Like, a big one. With a gun. What the fuck? ...Should I approach it? Screw it, why not? I’ve got nothing to lose. Except for all my internal organs, but who cares about those? I approach the robot.  
“H… Hello? Mr. Robot?”  
He turns to look at me, and now he’s charging at me. Either he wants to kill me or hug me. This is debatably bad either way.  
Luckily, he crashes into me, hugging me. It’s as painful as it sounds.  
“Wh-What are you?”  
“I…” It says in a computerry, gravelly voice, “AM THE FIST OF JUSTICE!” he yells.  
TITLECARD…? “Fist of Justice-SHSL Vigilante”  
“C-Could you set me down? I’m not good with heights…”  
“Anything to protect the innocent! YEAH!” he yells, randomly. This’ll be a fun one to have around.  
“So… are you a robot, or...?”  
“I AM A DEFENDER OF EARTH!”  
“...Right, but like what are you made of?”  
“I AM MADE OF DETERMINATION AND SPIRIT!”  
“Is there a person inside of you though?”  
“EVERYONE CAN BE INSIDE ME IF THEY BELIEVE HARD ENOUGH!”  
“...You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”  
“I wasn’t planning on it, no.” he responds, in a surprisingly calm voice  
Natsumi sighs. “Well what can you tell me about yourself?”  
“I am a being destined to protect our planet  from the treats within!  
“And by protect, you mean…?”  
“I slaughter those who wish to break apart the constructs of life!”  
“...So you’re a vigilante.”  
“NO! Vigilantes are criminals!”  
“...Then what are you?”  
“I! AM! THE FIST OF JUSTIIIIIIIICE!”  
“...Right. I got that already.” This guy is kinda scary to me… Maybe I should get out of here now, while I still have the chance?  
“Well then Mr… Justice… Fist, sir. I’m gonna go explore the rest of the building. “  
“GAHAHA! That sounds fantastic. You do that, civilian.”  
“It was nice to meet you!” I say.  
“It was nice to meet you also!” He responds, in that surprisingly calm voice again. He returns to doing a ridiculous amount of pushups.  
I decided to return to the hallway to check out some of the other rooms. Wait, is that an elevator? That has to be the way out!  
    I arrive at the entrance to what appears to be an elevator. A very large elevator, which could probably fit all of us inside of it. Maybe this could take us out of this place?  
    ...Scratch that. It’s out of power entirely. If we went on that, we’d die in a second. And yet, there at the entrance, is some girl trying to push her luck.  
    “Hello? Girl in the blue shirt?” I ask, waiting for a response.  
    “Huh? Oh, hi! Another new person! There’s so many people here…” she says, a bit awkwardly.  
    “Yeah, tell me about it. And they’re all insane.”  
    “I know, right? It’s ridiculous!” She extends her arm.  
    Huh. It looks like some of the people here are actually sane. I wonder what her talent is?  
“I’m Iko Sada. This year’s Lucky Student.”  
    SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL TITLECARD “Iko Sada-SHSL Lucky Student.”  
    Oh. Well that certainly changes our relationship. I was so excited to see a normal person, and guess what? They’re literally the most boring thing possible. Go figure.  
    “I honestly am so excited to be coming here! ...Although, I didn’t think the academy would look like this…” she says, thinking about something.  
    “I’m pretty sure this isn’t the academy, Iko. The academy at least has windows.”  
    “Ah, putting those lawyer skills to good use, I see.”  
    “Oh! You’ve heard of me?”  
    “Heard of you? I’ve done so much research on all of my classmates, I could write a few novels about it!”  
    “...That seems excessive.”  
    “Well it needs to be! Otherwise, how can I understand what you’re like as a person?”  
    “Uh, right…” Yeah, nevermind. This girl is giving me stalker vibes. Abort! Abort!  
    “I don’t care where we are or who brought us here! I’m just happy to be surrounded by talented people such as yourselves, you know?”  
    “Uh, yeah. I guess I can understand that feeling.”  
    “You know, I once had this dream about the first time I met you all…”  
    “Uh huh?” Oh god.  
    “You see, there was this, uh, party… and people started giving each other massages…”  
    Okay time to go. “Well I’m gonna keep exploring…” I say, anxiously.  
    “Oh, okay! I’ll be watching!”  
    “...I’m sure you will…” Okaytimetorunnow.  
    I run back to the hallway, and head back to the main area. Hopefully someone found something useful in this place...

    ...So that’s the class. What’s wrong with these people? Half of them are creepy or demented… So are we just remeeting back in the lobby? I guess there and the cafeteria are the only places we could all gather…  
    I head back to the lobby, and it seems everyone is there. Except for…  
    “It looks like everyone is here, master!” Gatchi said to Nagato, who appeared to be the leader.  
    “Are you certain, Gatchi? I only counted 15.” Nagato responded.  
    “Yeah, where are the Fukuis?” I ask, secretly hoping I’d just imagined them.  
    “Hopefully they show up soon” says Maya, wine glass in hand. “I’m tired of waiting.”  
    “We don’t need to wait. Let’s start now, before I get bored again” says Rei, childishly.  
    “Alright. Did anyone find anything even close to an exit?” asks Fuji.  
    “Oh! Me and Natsumi found a huge elavator!” Iko exclaims, excited to be helping the SHSLs.  
    “But it was out of power, and would fall down, killing us if we stepped inside.” I interject.  
    “Me and Minatame-San didn’t leave the cafeteria, I’m afraid.” says Hakayama.  
    “While fish boy and rich girl were debatin’ about their favorite kind of dresses, I found out that we all have a key to our dorm rooms.” Yukiko adds.  
    Wait, what? I reach into my pocket, and feel a cold silver key, a bit warped around the edges.  
    “Fish boy!? Imma cap’n! Ye should respect yer superiors, lass!” says fish boy, which is now all I’m ever calling him.  
    “Wait, she’s right!” exclaims Rise. “Those lizard people must have put them in our pockets while we were asleep!”  
    “Ah, such a shame… I wish the dorms had no locks.” says Maso, who somehow terrifies me more than the robot.  
    “I would be happy to help you access them, Mr. Kuriga.” said Len. God damnit Len.  
    “That would be quite the crime, you two.” Says Justice, holding up his badass robot gun arm.  
    “I… uh… I’m sorry we’re late!” yells Umeko, arriving late with her brother.  
    “Yes, we’re here, sadly.” The critic said, sighing. They had just come in the entrance behind me. “I had Umeko attempt to climb the walls, looking for an alternate exit. She did not find one, further proving to me her uselessness.”  
    “Well that’s because there isn’t one!” says an ominously cutesy voice.

    Now before we continue, I want you to know something. I am not, and never have been, a patient person. Yeah, it’s bitten me in the ass on more than a few occasions. This was one of those.  
    “HEY! That’s gotta be the asshole that kidnapped us!”  
    “Yep! I’m the mastermind behind this entire operation!” he says surprisingly casually.  
Get out here right now!” I yelled in the general direction of the voice.  
    “Okie dokie! Now that everyone’s here, I’d be happy to!” says exactly who you think it is.

    Monokuma.

    He jumps out from behind a podium at the front of the room, grabbing all of our attention.  
    “...What.” I say, as confused as I’d ever been.  
    “Aww~ What a cute little mascot!” Umeko says, and is quickly silenced by her brother.  
    “D-Don’t be fooled! He’s not an actual bear! Just a puppet of the lizard people!” says Rise, confusing as usual.  
    “He appears to be some kind of villainous robot. I SHALL DESTROY HIM!” yells Justice.    “I am all of those things and more! My name…” the mascot makes a drumroll noise with his mouth. “Is Monokuma!”  
    “Ah, I get it! Like a Monochrome bear! Good one.” says Rei, smug that he understood the joke that wasn’t even really a joke.  
    “That is besides the point.” the critic says. “Why are we here?”  
    “Oh, well that’s easy! You’re gonna murder each other!” the bear responds with an unnatural amount of glee.  
    “...I’m sorry?” Shion responds. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”  
    “M-Murder? You must be joking, no?” Haka says, nervously.  
    “Murder, I see… How intriguing of a concept… I’m excited to participate.” Len says. God damn it, Len.  
    “What!? Are you out of your bloody mind, thief!?” the critic says, surprisingly not as asshole-ish as I thought.  
    “M-Murder… Who would even consider something so… deranged…” says Maya, clearly disturbed by the concept.  
    “What!? You already hate it? But you haven’t even read the rules yet! You see, once one of you commits a murder, you have to hide it from all of the other students! And then there's a whole trial and everything!” Monokuma goes into an explanation of the rules you’ve heard a million times before.  
    “You’re not joking…” Iko says, white as a ghost.  
    “If you are, then it’s a shitty joke!” Rei yells.  
    “...What?” says Biaro, dropping the pirate accent completely.  
    “D-Drop the bullshit, bear!” yells Fuji.  
    “I KNEW HE WAS UP TO NO GOOD!” yells Justice, charging forward at the bear.  
Once he gets close enough, a wresting ring rises out of the floor, and the execution music begins to play. Monokuma easily dodges, and grabs the gun part of the mech, spinning it around him in circles. Eventually, Monokuma rips the arm off of the mech, sending the main body of it spinning into the rope. Soon, the machine starts to run out of power and shuts down.  
“J-Justice!” God dammit. The best guy was already down.  
“Don’t worry about him! He’ll be fine. I’ll get him a new suit soon enough.” the bear responds.  
“We don’t give a shit about him! You put us into some murder game, and expect us to just play it!?” The critic yells angrily.  
“Stop fighting the bear, Fukui.” Shion says, interrupting. Since when did he give a shit about this? “You’re not helping anyone by fighting a fight you’re never going to win.”  
    “And you are? Mr. ‘I’m not going to introduce myself to everyone’?” says Maso in his annoyingly deep voice.  
    “That was before all of this. Now then, Monoku- Where did he go?” Shion says as he turns around to realize Monokuma had completely disappeared. “Anyway, that’s aside from the point. Before anything, we need to help out Justice. Does anyone here have any medical knowledge?”    
    Yukiko sighs and walks over to the unconscious mech. “I do, but I need to get this guy to a bed. Can someone gimme a hand with this thing?” she asks, annoyed at having to do her job.  
    “Gladly” says Nagato. “Gatchi, help her.”  
    “Y-Yes master!” Gatchi says as he runs over to the pediatrician, somehow picking up the giant machine with ease.  
    “Okay, there. Here’s what I suggest.” Intejects Nagato, who is apparently our leader for good. “Gatchi, Yukiko, help Justice. Everyone else, go to bed and sleep. I, Shion, Iko, and Hidetsugu will meet and plan methods of making sure none of you do anything drastic. Is that understood?” Pretty much everyone here nods in agreement, aside from Len.  
    “And why would we do that?” Len asks, his cockiness reaching even higher levels.  
    “Because we’re going to protect you all. No one has to die.” says Shion angrily, as usual.  
    “Oh course no one has to die. But it’s much more interesting when they do, no?” he says, chuckling.  
    “The fuck are you talking about!?” yells Fuji. “Someone might die!”  
    “Yes, and I intend to be the killer.” says Len.  
    “W-What!?” I exclaim in shock. Of course he was a dick, but to go that far…  
    “If you will excuse me, I’m off to the kitchen. That seems like a good place to, I don’t know, poison the food supply? Or get some sort of weapon, perhaps?” He says, chuckling even more in a way that only he can. He walks off.  
    “...Someone needs to watch him.” says Maya, clearly nervous about all of this. “I guess I’ll take that job.”  
    “Maya, wait! Are you sure you should be the one around the potential murderer?” questions Nagato.  
    “It wouldn’t be wise to leave you alone like that… Hidetsugu. You have a new job.” says Nagato.  
    “...You’re kidding me, right?” asks the critic. “I have to spend my free time with a psychopath and an activist!? I don’t know which is worse!”  
    “Wow. Thanks.” says Maya, twitching a bit.  
    “So to recap, Maya, the critic, and Len are together. Iko, Shion, and Nagato are together. Yukihiko and Gatchi are watching over Justice. And that leaves 8 of us. Is that correct?” asks Hakayama.  
    “Yeah! I’m sure we’ll be fine alone, though. I mean it’s not like anyone’s gonna kill the first night, right?” I state.

    ...right?

Everyone starts panicking. No one wants to be the first to die. The first to die is always the most boring, or least liked of the group. It's like being picked for dodgeball, except, ya know, murder. And I, for one, am not being the odd man out.  
    I run back to my dorm as fast as possible and lock the door. I can’t believe this shit… Murder? Really? That’s such a lazy concept. And why does he complicate it with this whole “trial” concept anyway? It seems pointless. If you want us to kill each other, just make us kill to leave. Why should we have to hide it? ...Regardless, if I want to survive this I need these people to like me, right? So I should probably talk to someone tomorrow… but who would that be…

MONOKUMA THEATER  
"For those of you reading "Danganronpa: Blood Meets Water"... I would recommend you stop right now! Because before you can continue, you have to pay the entrance fee! That's right! Progressing past this point is illegal if you don't pay the fine! ...HEY! I see you hovering your mouse over the 'Next Chapter' button! You better not! Or you'd be a rulebreaker! And then I'd have to give you a very special punishment, wouldn't I? ~puhuhu~... Let's just say this: Nothing in life ever comes free. Even life itself! GAHAHA!"


	2. Chapter 2: Elephant in the room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which the game truly begins.

Sigh. I’m still here, aren’t I? I’m still in this shithole of a murder game. You know, on second thought, maybe it would be smart of me not to talk to anyone. I should just lock myself in here and only come out for food. At least that way I’ll never have to deal with these jackasses agai-  
“Hi there!” yells Jackass #4.   
“Gah! Iko!” I yell, annoyed at being woken up by screaming. “How did you get in here?”   
“I picked the lock!” she says, the fucking criminal. “...Sorry if I woke you up. You seem a bit angry.”  
“Does everyone know how to pick locks in this place!?” I say, exasperated. There goes the ‘lock myself in my room’ plan.  
Iko shrugs, and we sit in silence for a moment. She just keeps staring at me, it’s kind of creepy.  
“S-So is there a reason you came in here, or?” I ask, afraid she’ll say no.  
“Oh, right! I’m supposed to bring you to the others!” she says, with a huge smile.  
“Others? I thought we were split off into groups.” I say, confused.  
“Well me, Shion, and Nagato have a plan! Every morning, we’re gonna meet in the lobby to see if anyone died or not!”  
“...That sounds dumb. What if someone just doesn’t show up?”  
“Well then we go look for them, duh! Like I’m coming to you now!” she says. I just realized she’s on my bed.  
“Right. Can you get off of me, please?”  
“Oh… Sorry.” she says, blushing a deep shade of red that I didn’t think a human could physically go.  
“Can you leave the room for a moment? I need to get dressed.”  
“Huh? Oh. Right, yeah. You should do that. Alone…” she says, seemingly sad that she didn’t get to watch. What’s wrong with this girl?  
She steps out of the room, and I bury my face in my hands. I… I should try to talk to the others. The more people like me, the more they won’t want to kill me, right? Eventually, I get dressed, do my morning routine, and step outside.

And of course, the first thing I hear is bickering.  
“I don’t care! All of your work is based on devaluing others! It’s horrible!” says Maya, balling her fist as I walk into the lobby.  
“Well at least I have any work to speak of. A girl like you thinks she’s a good person because she donated a few bucks to cancer research, and gets even more money from her rich parents. Am I wrong?” says Hidetsugu, somehow both angry and smug at the same time. He appears to be holding… some kind of leash? That better not be for Umeko. If it is, I’ll strangle him, I swear.  
“That’s besides the point Why do you act like this all of the time!? Is there something wrong with you, or what?” Maya asks, just as done with him as I am.  
“Um, Hidetsugu… What’s with the leash?” I ask, curious.  
“The leash is to keep- Oh, for fuck’s sake! Where is he!?” he looks to the end of the leash, at which there is only a post-it note.  
“Dear Maya and Hidetsugu. I am done with being treated like a wild animal. I will be planning my murder for now. Goodbye.” Maya reads, gritting her teeth.  
Hidetsugu sighs. “I thought you were supposed to watch him!”  
“Well you were the one holding his leash!” Maya argues.  
They continue arguing, and Fuji approaches me. “Hey.” she says. “How are you feeling?”  
“Uh, well… I could be better, obviously.” I say, still a bit tired.  
“Yeah, tell me about it. This entire killing game thing is ridiculous…”  
“I know. This place is obviously shitty, but none of us would kill to get out!” I respond.  
“Yeah, right? I mean, I could see someone like Maya doing it, who has an important life to get back to.” she says. Thankfully, Maya was engrossed in her argument too much to listen. “Hell, maybe even you. At least you have a job to go back to, if we get out of here.” she says dejectedly.  
“And you don’t?” I say, stunned.  
“I got fired from my Vegas show, remember? I’ve gotta go back to street performing now, I guess… My manager’s been missing for weeks now, so it would be impossible to book another one.”   
“Well why don’t you just get a new manager?”  
She looks off and hugs herself. It seems like she doesn’t want to talk about it, so I’m not going to press her for information or anything. I turn back to the argument happening. It looks like they found Len.  
“There you are, bastard!” says Hidetsugu, finally catching Len under the table.  
“Oh, what a shame, detective. It seems you caught me.” Len claps and chuckles. “Now then, are we going to keep playing hide and seek, or can you hold onto me this time?” he says, smug as ever.  
“Just who do you think I am? I am the greatest critic Japan has ever known. I have destroyed careers! I have given people incredible power that you couldn’t even imagine!”  
“Oh, like your sister?” Len responds. “The biggest coward and most likely victim here?”  
Hidetsugu grits his teeth, and gives Len a death glare.  
“I’m sure she would do even the most inappropriate things to save herself from a killer like me, no?”  
Hidetsugu’s eyes widen, and he grabs Len by the throat, and picks him up off the ground. “WHY YOU LITTLE-”  
“Can you all please just shut up? Stop giving him what he wants, Fukui.” asks Nagato, speaking through a microphone on stage.   
Everyone looks to her immediately, and Hidetsugu drops Len, embarrassed and frustrated. I guess he cares about Umeko more than I thought...   
“We have actual serious business to attend to.” she continues. “First order of business, I would like to thank everyone for showing up. Even if some of you were late or attempting to run away.”  
“Gladly, darling.” says Maso, clearly too wrapped up in his sexual fantasies about Umeko to worry about what’s actually happening.  
“Onto the second order of business. Yukiko, how is justice doing?” she asks.  
“The vigilante’s fine. Your dog was a surprising amount of help.” the pediatrician responds, smoking as usual.  
“My dog? Karu was with me the entire time…” Nagato confusedly responds.  
“I was talkin’ about Gatchi.” Yukiko snarks.  
“H-Hey! I’m not a dog! ...Unless master says I am, of course.” Gatchi responds, blushing.  
“...Moving on then. To the third order of business.” she pauses for a second, considering something. “Although it seems likely no one would simply answer, we would like to know if any others here have considered murder.”  
At that, everyone looks around, completely untrusting and afraid of everyone else here. No one raises their hand.  
“That’s what I figured. If no one wants to come forth, we will start assigning jobs tomorrow, then.” Nagato says.  
“Jobs? Ye can’t esspect a cap’ne like me to do yer werk for ye, lass.” Biaro says, seemingly returned back to his pirate voice.  
“Y-Yeah… I don’t think a girl like me would be much help with labor anyway…” shyly says Umeko.  
“That’s not what I mean. You’re not doing chores, or any sort of heavy lifting. Whoever is assigned job duty for now will be working to destroy all possible weapons in the building, or at least make them unusable.” Nagato says.

...That can’t work. Monokuma wouldn’t be that dumb to just let us do that, right?  
“That sounds like a great idea!” yells Gatchi, trying to compliment his master.  
“Yes, that sounds wonderful! Anything to stop this horrible game, I say!” Hakayama says.

“Yeah, I guess it could work…” says Fuji. “But what if the bear tries to stop us?”  
“Then we rip him apart from the inside out!” says Rei. “I wonder if he has real guts in there…”  
“...That’s disgusting, Rei.” Shion says, clearly disturbed by the thought.  
“We’ll discuss that when it comes to it. In the meantime, feel free to eat.” Nagato smiles. “We’ll see what happens next.”  
“Oh, thank goodness! I was starving!” says Iko, putting a plate of food under my nose.  
...Somehow I missed the giant table filled with food.   
“Oh, good! I haven’t eaten at all since I got here!” I exclaim, starving.  
“B-but what if one of those filthy lizards are among us…? They could have easily poisoned this stuff!”  
...Surprisingly, Rise’s right. Under most conditions, I’d be happy to join in, but someone could have easily poisoned this stuff. A few other people, at this point, stop eating as well.

This whole council thing is a bad decision, I can feel it… Nonetheless, I have a few minutes. Who should I get closer to?  
FREE TIME START!  
You know, now that her brother is busy with a certain thief, this may be one of my only chances to talk to Umeko… I’ll do that.  
I find Umeko in the mailroom, messing around with a marionette.  
“Hey the-”  
“GAH!” she yells at me, startled by my voice. “O-oh. It’s only you, Natsumi. I thought it might’ve been Len…”  
See Len? This is why you don’t act so god damn creepy all the time.  
“Well I’m sure your brother has that taken care of.” I say, knowing perfectly well he does not.  
“Yeah… You’re probably right…”  
“...”  
“...”  
“...”  
“...”  
“So you’re a puppeteer? That must be interesting!”  
“Uh, yeah. I guess. ...I don’t really like to talk about myself much. Let’s talk about you instead.”  
“What? No! Being a lawyer is on of the most boring jobs on earth, trust me. Yours sounds much more interesting.”  
“I-It’s really not… That’s kind of why I got into puppetry in the first place… So I wouldn’t have to get in front of the camera…”  
“Oh, I see. You need to work on your confidence, then!”  
“N-No I don’t… I’m happy the way I am.” She pauses for a second. “Even if I am such an ugly, useless whore…”  
“What!? Where did that come from?”  
“Well it’s true, isn’t it?”  
“No! Not at all! I’m sure there are plenty of uses for your skillset!”  
“Oh y-yeah? Like what?”  
...Well she’s got me there. I don’t know the first thing about puppeteering… Or do I? I guess maybe this could be useful…

Ventriloquism / Constitutionalism / Communism  
“What about ventriloquism?” I ask, confident that this is a thing.  
“Wha-Huh!?” she spouts, stunned at this piece of very common knowledge.  
“Throwing your voice, right? That must have plenty of uses!”  
“...I guess… But I’m not that smart, or strong, or… anything!”  
“So? You just need to be proud of who you are!”  
“I guess… Thanks, Natsumi.”  
“No problem!”  
FREE TIME END!  
I leave the room and start thinking to myself.  
Well then. That went by quickly. I still have the whole other half of the day. Who should I go to now? Oh, I know! I’ll go talk to-  
“Why hello there, lawyer.” Ugh. Len.  
I sigh and wave. “Hello, Len. You got away from the old married couple again, I see.”  
Len giggles a bit after I say that. “With jokes like those, I’m surprised you’re not the SHSL Comedian.”  
I blush a tiny bit. “I’m sure Rei’s jokes are way funnier than mine, heh…” I shake my head, remembering this is Len I’m talking to. “Anyway, what do you want? You wouldn’t just come up to me without good reason, would you?”  
“Ah, that’s quite simple. You seem like one of the only decently intelligent people here. I simply wish to make conversation, and give some advice.”  
“...Advice?” I worriedly say.  
He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Have you heard of Nagato before this game?”  
“Uh… No.” I say in response.  
“Well I do. She’s being very subtle about her attempts to murder.”  
“..! You… What? You’re screwing with me, right?”   
“Not in the slightest, dear.”  
“Hey! There he is!” shouts Maya, barreling down the hallway.  
“Oh, what a shame. I guess I should be going then.” he chuckles, and speeds down the hallway. Maya apologizes and chases after him.

Anyway, where was I?  
FREE TIME START!  
Oh, right! Fuji! ...I know she didn’t seem comfortable talking about it earlier, but I should probably ask Fuji what the deal is with her manager. She seemed to be really upset about him disappearing…  
I found her in the kitchen. She really likes it in here, huh…?  
“Oh, hey Natsumi. Do you want to hang out for a bit?” she asks,   
Would you like to spend some time with Fuji?

YES / NO  
“Awesome! What do you wanna talk about then?” she asks, with a big smile.  
“Well… I wanted to ask about your manager”. Her smile stops. “Are you comfortable talking about it, or?”  
“No, it’s fine. I just miss him is all.”  
“You miss him? Is he not just your manager?”  
“...Well he’s also my brother. Isao Rono, SHSL Talent Manager.”  
“Oh, I see…” I add, attempting to console her. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to him?”  
“...Well, they have a few theories. But the most common is that he… ran away.”  
“What? Ran away? Why would he do that?”  
“We don’t know. Maybe he finally snapped from all the stress we put on him… God, I feel like a horrible person.” she says, sitting down on the floor.  
I crouch down next to her. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. I’m sure he’s fine wherever he is now, alright?”  
“Yeah, I guess… I just miss him, you know? It’s kinda ironic. I’m a magician, but I’m complaining about him disappearing.”  
“Oh, right. You’re an escape artist, I completely forgot.”  
“Heh, yeah. I don’t look like much, do I? Just some weird girl with a top hat.”  
“...Yeah, I’m sure it’s really interesting, though!”  
She shrugs. “It is, but it’s no better than Len.” she frowns. “Even the Lucky Student can pick a lock. Where does that leave me? All I can manage to do is make it into a show. Put it larger than life, you know? I’m nothing special. I’m not like any of the greats...”  
The greats? Like, other magicians? Hmm, I seem to remember that another famous magician specialized in escaping… which one was it?

Lance Burton / David Copperfield / Harry Houdini  
“The greats? You mean like… Harry Houdini?”  
“Yeah, exactly. The most famous escape artist of all time… he’s kind of a role model for me.” she blushes.  
“Oh. Really? All I really know about him was that he was a magician…”  
“What!? He was amazing!” She’s absolutely beaming, excited to talk to me about Harry Houdini. “He developed this technique where he could move an entire elephant through a normal doorway!”  
“...That doesn’t seem possible.”  
“I know, right? He was incredible!”   
“R-Right… Maybe you should put on a show some time for me?”  
“Oh… I can try, but I won’t be that good… the elephant trick is hard to pull off. It takes way too long, and you’d get to see how I do it.”  
Honestly, I kind of want to know how she does it. Nonetheless, it’s already getting late, and I-  
DING DONG DONG DING  
“Attention, Students of Hope’s Peak Academy! Whenever you can, please come to the mailroom for a special announcement!”. God damnit. Monokuma.  
“.Whatever that is can’t be good.” she says, almost hyperventilating.  
“...It doesn’t matter. We can’t ignore him, can we?” I say dejectedly.  
We look at each other for a moment. This is just the tiniest little thing, but I’m going to spend an entire paragraph talking about it, because this look… It was almost as if she knew what was coming. As if she was able to predict what would happen in the next few days…

And she was fine with it.

We made our way to the mailroom, ignoring everyone else. We were some of the last people to arrive, the only other one being Len and his watchers, who were presumably still chasing the little scumbag. Nonetheless, the bear appeared, impatent as ever.  
“Why, hello again!” he says, to our displeasure.  
“God, that voice is fuckin’ annoying.” says Yukiko, obviously exhausted from having to do whatever she did to Justice, who was shadily standing in the corner without his mech. He looked…. Well, he looked dumb. I won’t lie.  
“What do ye’ want wit’ us, bear?” asks Biaro.  
“I want to get this game started! One day in, and you all are already soooo booooring!” he whines.  
“Boring!?” yells Rei. “Th-That’s the worst insult anyone’s ever given me!”  
“Yeah, well anything that’s not your suffering is boring to me, kid.”  
“Y-You monster! You… creature of despair! What’s wrong with you?” Hakayama shouts.  
“Creature of despair? FWAHAHA!” he laughs to himself. “I have to say… That might just be the cheesiest and most literal thing anyone’s called me! Good job! Five stars!” Monokuma says, applauding.  
“I’m not here to give into your game, bear.” says Maso.  
“You don’t want to, maybe! But you will! They always do…”  
“Just tell us the purpose of your visit, Monokuma.” Nagato says, clearly done with Monokuma.  
“Well that’s obvious! I’m giving you your very first motive!” he yells, proud of himself.  
“Motive?” asks Shion. “You never mentioned that in the rules.”  
“And? I think that’s beside the point, isn’t it?” he responds. “Let me tell you about your Electro-IDs!” he says, as we all hear a beeping noise from our pockets.   
Huh? Where did these come from? Did he put it in there while we were sleeping? I could’ve sworn it wasn’t there a minute ago…  
“These will perform multiple functions! They serve as your rulebooks, and also include information about each student! Plus, they work on every electronic lock in the building, and keep a record of when you use them!” Monokuma proclaims.  
“O...kay…?” I say, confused as to how this is a motive.  
“And there’s one special lock they work on!” he grins. “Each one of you has a mailbox, right?”  
Ah. There it is.   
“Inside of those mailboxes, you’ll find the first part of your motive! Be careful! It’s a doozy!”  
“This better be worth our time, lizard puppet!” Rise yells.   
“That bear doesn’t look like a puppet to me…” says a confused Umeko.  
As we turn to our mailboxes, I have a bad feeling… Everyone knows exactly what’s coming next…   
Someone here is going to murder because of this.

I unlock mine. I expect something dangerous, maybe a live snake or a bottle of poison. And I find…  
“This is a comic book.” I point out, confused.  
“...? Wait, you got Manga?” asks Hakayama. “I got a pocket watch…”  
“...Arrows.” says Nagato, concerned.  
“I don’t even know what mine is…” says a confused Fuji.  
“These are my gifts! Each one has a very special purpose relating to you, your talent, and ways you can murder each other! Tomorrow I’ve got more for you bastards, but we’ll have to wait ‘til then! Upupupupu~” He laughs to himself. It’s quite an odd laugh, don’t you think? He could have just ‘Hahahaed’, or even ‘fwahaha’ like earlier, but no. Some gibberish phrase. I wonder if it has any meaning? Maybe some kind of morse code? A production error in his programming? Who knows.   
Nonetheless, I need to read this thing without these other people knowing...Not that I don’t trust some of them, but Fuji doesn’t seem completely stable with her brother and all that.  
“Is that all, Monokuma? There better not be something worse!” yells Gatchi. I’m starting to think that yelling might be some of these people’s normal speaking voice.  
“Yep! That’s it! Now head back to your rooms before I slit your fuckin’ necks!” Jesus, okay. We’re going.   
We head to our rooms, because Monokuma’s surprisingly scary in person.  
And just as I’m about to read, I feel a pounding in my head… something trying to get in, it feels like.  
If only I could remember what…  
I pass out cold on my bed, my Manga falling onto the floor.

MONOKUMA THEATER #1  
“So last week I went up to the store to buy some food to get me through the week. You know how it is. And this guy comes up to me and says ‘Hey. You look like this one celebrity!’ and I say ‘Uh, sure! I’m totally that person!’. So we talk for a bit, I improvise a bit, and we end up having dinner together. Eventually, he proposes to me! What an idiot! I can’t believe he fell for that! FWAHAHA!”


	3. Chapter 3: Conversation with a Card

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another round of Free Time Events! A new motive! Insanity!

“Attention, students! It’s time for you to wake up! Wakey, wakey! Eggs and bakey! Get your asses out of bed before I personally burn them off!”  
At least this time I didn’t sleep through the announcement… And there’s no Iko in here. That’s always a plus. No offense to the girl, but she’s pretty creepy. Stalking, picking locks~ she’s probably broken more crimes than I could count. But then again, I don’t know if I’d have the heart to sue her… Ugh, whatever. I get ready for the day, take a shower, brush my teeth, the works. I just… This place is already getting to me. I feel like there’s someone sneaking around every corner. I guess I can blame Len for that, right? Or maybe it’s just paranoia. I don’t know. Anyway, I step out into the hall ready to greet-  
“HEY!” yells Iko, waiting outside my door.  
“G-Gah! Why do you sneak up on me so much?”  
“O-Oh… sorry.” She says, blushing intensely.  
“Don’t worry about it, Iko.” I say, with a fake smile. “Just try not to in the future, okay?”  
“Okie dokie~!” she yells, saluting me for some reason.  
“Anyway, why are you here? I thought I woke up on time today…?”  
“Oh… Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you!” says the stalker.  
“Right… Well we should be going anyway… How about I talk to you after we meet for breakfast, okay?”  
“Oh. right. Yeah. Sounds good!”  
We walk to the lobby, Iko as happy and me as apathetic as usual. Of course, the first thing we hear is them again…  
“Look, I’m sorry, alright? It’s just… How are we supposed to keep track of a SHSL Thief? We’re never going to catch up to him unless he le-” Maya says, and is cut off.  
“He can’t run forever. He has to stop moving eventually. For right now, we just play the waiting game.” Hidetsugu responds.  
Maya starts mumbling. “Well if you didn’t have such butter fingers, we never would’ve lost him in the first place…”  
“What was that?” Hidetsugu asks.  
“Nothing!” Maya yells out, obviously lying.  
“Are you saying things behind my back? I don’t appreciate it when people do that, Maya.”  
“I-I said nothing!”  
“Oh yeah? Well why don’t you take that ‘nothing’ of yours and shove it right up your-”  
“I THINK THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!” yells Nagato. Hidetsugu and Maya immediately stop talking. “I have had it up to here with you two’s bickering. Hidetsugu, you’re assigned job duty.”  
“J-Job duty!? But we’re making progress here! I’m not just gonna-” Hidetsugu is cut off.  
“Your assignment is to dull any sharp objects you can find that could be potential weapons. Do I make myself clear?”  
“What!? How is that-?”  
“Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?”  
Hidetsugu grits his teeth. “Yes…”  
“Now then, Maya. We need someone else to help you on this job., no?”  
“Well I think I’m perfectly capable of doing this on my own. I don’t need some-” Maya cockily says.  
“Maso shall be your partner, since he already volunteered.”  
“...Maso!?” Maya shouts in shock.  
“Yes, that would be me.” Maso says, giggling.  
“Are you sure he’s the best choice for this, Nagato? He can be kind of-” Fuji asks.  
“I have my reasons for choosing him, Rono. If this is a mistake, we will see later.”  
Maso walks up to Maya, licking his lips. Maya looks about ready to slap him.  
“Now then. We will go through the same routine as last breakfast. If anyone here believes they are likely to kill in the next few days, please raise your hand now.”  
Of course no one in their right mind would do this. In fact, even if they were in the wrong mind, they wouldn’t just say it out loud. Aside from Len, of course. God damnit Len.  
Therefore, we look around in confusion. Terror. Waiting for someone, anyone, to confirm our paranoia. And yet, no one does. We’re just there in awkward, fear-inducing silence like most people could never imagine existing.  
“Alright then. Does anyone have any questions before we continue with breakfast?”  
“Yes, I do.” Len speaks, just now entering the room. “The mailbox items. The ones Monokuma gave us. What is your plan for dealing with them?”  
Nagato looks surprised. “W-Well, none of them seem particularly threatening.  
“Oh? Is that so? Pray tell us, Nagato. What was in your mailbox?”  
Nagato’s eyes widen in shock. “I-I’m sorry?”  
“I believe you heard me, Nagato.”  
“Th-This meeting is over.” As she attempts to walk off the stage, Len stops her.  
“No, really. Tell us, Nagato. If you’re so convinced none of them are dangerous, what’s the harm?” He laughs.  
Gatchi steps forward. “L-Leave master alone!” he yells, fire in his eyes.  
“Hmm, fine. I’ve roused enough suspicion. After all, I-”. He is cut off as Maso grabs him by his shirt collar.  
“Now then. Why don’t we take you somewhere special, darling~?” Maso says, proud of himself.  
“H-Hey! I wasn’t done yet, you nutty trap! Set me down!”  
Maso whistles as he carries Len out of the room. Maya feebly follows behind. Shion and Nagato leave to go somewhere, and Gatchi tries to follow them. Nagato stops him and points him in the direction of Yukiko.  
Anyway, breakfast. The most important meal of the day, right? Heh… I’m not going to worry about poison anymore, I don’t think. I have to eat eventually. It might as well be now.   
Anyway, I should talk to someone. Who should I hang out with today?  
Free time start!  
Hmm… Iko seemed like she needed to talk to someone this morning. And even though she’s kinda creepy, I feel bad for her in a weird way. Anyway, let’s see what she’s up to.  
I approach Iko, eating at a table alone. “Hey, Iko. You needed to talk, right?”  
“Oh…” She says, blushing. “Need is a strong word… but yeah. I’d like to talk if I could.”  
“Sure! What is it about?”  
“...You know how I was a part of that leader group? With Shion and Nagato?”  
“Yeah?”  
“...I’m not anymore.”  
“What!? Why not?”  
“They thought I was… creepy.”   
...Well they weren’t exactly wrong…  
“What do you mean?”  
“W-Well… I know really weird things about them…”  
...This better not be going where I think it is.  
“Like I was able to tell Nagato everything she’d ever killed, for one thing…”  
“...How do you even…?”  
“Oh! Well, I’ve been studying you guys for the past year! Ever since I won the lottery, that is…”  
“...Studying us?” I say, a bit creeped out too.  
“N-Nothing like watching you sleep or in the bathroom or anything!” She blushes. “Oh no! Why did I say that? You totally think I do now, right?”  
“Of course not!” I say, even though I think she’s totally creepy enough to do that.  
“...You do, don’t you?”  
“...Maybe a little bit, but not much!”  
She looks down, disappointed. “That’s what everyone seems to think… all because of my stupid memory thing…”  
Memory thing? What is she talking about? Hmm… If she was able to name every kill Nagato had ever done, she must have a good memory! But is she talking about a…

Memory trick / Photographic memory / Photosynthesis  
“Do you have… a photographic memory?”  
“Y-Yeah!” she says, smiling. “It’s super useful in school and stuff! ...but it also makes me look super creepy…”  
Yeah, it does… I mean, the lockpicking is still a bit weird, but that explains a lot about this girl. I’m glad I spent some time with her today.  
“Yeah, well forget those two if they think you’re not fit to be a leader!”  
“Huh?”  
“You just have to show them you’re worthy, right?”  
“O-oh… I guess…”  
“You guess? Come on! Show some spirit, Iko!” I say, feeling like some kind of sports coach.  
“Wh-Why are you being so inspirational all of a sudden?”  
“Because you’re a good person, Iko! And I feel bad about those people treating you like jerks…”  
“What!? No, they’re not!”  
“Yes, they are! They’re excluding you from their little club and everything!”  
“Y-Yeah! You know what? You’re right!” she says, with a determined expression on her face. “They’re treating me really bad! I’m gonna show them exactly what I’m made of!”. She runs off to wherever they’re having their secret discussions, with her hands in the shape of fists.  
Free time End!  
You know, maybe that was a bad idea… oh well. What’s done is done, I suppose. Now then, as much as I’d like to make these people like me, I need to take a break from them. They can be… a bit annoying, to say the least.   
And as I head back to my room, I hear a sound I didn’t want to hear… Gunfire.  
I rush to the noise, which appears to be coming from Yukiko’s room, and inside…

“Dammit, Gatchi! What did you do?” Yukiko yells, with a passed out Justice on the chair. Justice’s mech is on the ground, and they’re attempting to put it back together.  
“S-Sorry…” Gatchi says, blushing.  
She sighs. “Look, kid. Just stay away from the heavy machinery and let me take care of it, alright? I don’t want you getting hurt…”  
“M-Ms. Otume… I didn’t think you cared about me that much!”  
She quickly turns her face away. “I don’t. I just don’t want you wasting bullets.” I could have sworn I saw her blushing for a second…  
“O-Oh… Right… But you said you don’t want me getting hurt, too!”  
“...Slip of the tongue.”  
“Oh. I see.”  
They sit in awkward silence for a moment, before a metallic groaning can be heard.  
“Hey, looks like the robo-bastard is up.” Yukiko says.  
“H-Huh!?” yells the gruff, robotic voice coming out of this thin, lanky, teenager. “M-My mech!” he yells, his face red. “...No one was supposed to see my real face…” he says, disappointed.  
“Well tough luck, kid. At least that bear didn’t kill ya.”  
“B-Bear? Oh!” he opens his eyes, as if he were remembering something. “Wh-Where is he? I’ll rip that stuffed animal to pieces, I swear!”  
“I… don’t think that’s very smart, Mr. Fist, sir.” Gatchi says, with his hand scratching the back of his head.  
“Smart? GAHAHA! I don’t do smart, civilian! I do action! And I never fail!”  
“...Then why’s your mech disabled on the ground?”  
“Well I might’ve lost the battle, but I can’t lose the war! I just need to get back in my mech, and-”  
“NO!” Yukiko interrupts. “Your heart’s not in a stable condition right now. You just went through a near death experience. Any more action and I have to operate again.”  
“A-AGAIN!?” he yells, looking at the stitches on his chest. “...You’ve gotta be kidding me…”  
“Kidding? You think it was just a prank? Me putting stitches in your chest? Wow, I must’ve really got you then.” she pulls out a cigarette and starts smoking it.  
Justice immediately starts coughing. “Can you put that thing down?”  
“Put what down? My smoke? No thanks, kid.”  
“Then move me to another room. My mech filtered out that stuff, my voicebox doesn’t.”  
“Fine.” She puts out the cigarette on his mech.  
“Hey! What are you, a child!?”  
“What are you? A murderer with backwards morals?”  
At that, everyone goes quiet. Yukiko and Justice angrily stare at each other while Gatchi nervously looks back and forth between the two of them.  
“Did you say something about a voicebox, Mr. Fist?” Gatchi asks, in an attempt to break the silence.  
“Yeah, voicebox. The thing in front of my mouth. My real voice is terrible, so I hide it with that.”  
“Terrible? I’m sure it can’t be that fucked up, right?”  
“...You’d be surprised. Also, please stop swearing.”  
Yukiko laughs at that. “Yeah, no can do, kid. I can get you a glass of water, though. Be right back.” she says, as she starts heading to the door.  
Wait, the door? I’M AT THE DOOR!  
I quickly turn and walk back to my room, whistling suspiciously. Hopefully she doesn’t notice me… She doesn’t seem like a person who’d be particularly patient with eavesdroppers. Anyway, where was I going? Right. My room. I walk up to the door, turn the knob, and walk inside. Thank god I’m finally alone.  
“Why hello there, dear~”  
Free time… Start?  
“G-Gah! Len! Why are you…?”  
“I’m here to murder you, of course.” At that, my heart drops. Len, the absolute psychopath, begins laughing. “No, not actually. Well, I probably won’t kill you tonight. I like you quite a bit, Natsumi. Your reactions tend to be… entertaining, to say the least.”  
“Uh… Thanks?” I say, not knowing how to respond to that.  
“Don’t mention it, dear. Now, look. I’ve learned a lot about you. You’re famous, according to the size of your wallet.” At that, I blush a bit. “So do you have any questions for me~” he asks, grinning.  
He’s just letting me ask him questions? That’s… really useful. I have so many things to ask him… About Nagato, his murder plans, everything… But the first thing I need to know is what this asshat is capable of.  
“So how does one define a “SHSL Thief”? You must’ve stolen a lot to get in here, right?”  
“Ah, yes, of course! I have stolen a countless many priceless artifacts and riches… the most infamous was just last year. Van Gogh, I believe it was.”  
....Van Gogh? Isn’t he a painter? I can only think of one painting he made…

Starry Night / Mona Lisa / Darude-Sandstorm  
“Van Gogh? He painted Starry Night, right? But that’s way too famous… There’s no way you could’ve-”  
“That’s exactly right, dear. The Starry Night heist. It was all over the news last year, I’m sure you heard about it~?”  
She blushes. “Uh, y-yeah. I definitely did.” she says, although she had never heard of it until now.  
“It was an incredible feat, you know. One of the most valuable paintings in the world, gone in a flash~ I suppose next on our list is the Mona Lisa, eh?” He laughs.  
“Y-Yeah… Hey, while you’re here… I wanted to ask about Nagato…”  
His eyes light up. “Ooh, I see… So you’re listening to me now~?”  
I sigh. “With the stunt you pulled this morning, you must be pretty confident she’s hiding something.”  
“Oh, and I am~. I’ve met her before coming here, you see.”  
“You have? Where?”  
“At a hunting competition.”  
“...You don’t seem like a hunter.”  
“A people hunting competition, Natsumi.”  
“...”  
“The most powerful criminals in the world meet in one location for the hunt of the century. It’s truly exciting.”  
“You have to be joking…”  
“Of course not. She’s the one who organizes them, you know~”  
“...!”  
Suddenly, I heard voices outside. “And why would he be in here, darling~?” Maso questions.  
“Why not here? He could be in any of these dorms…” Maya responds.  
“Ah, my guardians are here, it seems.” Len says, smugly.  
“Wh-What!? Tell me more!”  
“Hmm… More? I think you’ve heard enough, no? She organizes games in which she murders people. Does that not sound familiar to our current situation, Natsumi~?”  
...He can’t be serious.  
“Y-You can’t be serious!”  
“Oh? You need proof? Ask Nagato about the FAHC. She’ll know what you mean.”  
The door bursts down, Maso’s fist at the place where the dor used to be. “There you are, Len darling! Now why don’t you come with us~?”  
“Come with you? I would be honored.” Len says, willingly walking with the two of them.  
“...That was easy.” Maya says in shock.  
“Well if my watch is accurate, I won’t be walking with you for long, dear.” Len says, smug as ever.  
“Hmm? What is that supposed to-” Maso is cut off by a familiar sound.  
DING DONG DING DONG  
“Attention, students! Please head to the mailrooms again for another set of gracious presents from your headmaster! THAT’S AN ORDER, BASTARDS!” Monokuma yells over the loudspeakers.   
Ugh, more presents. Just what we needed.  
I went down to the mailroom ahead of the others, tired of Len’s smugness taking over everything. We walked down to the mailbox, and everyone was already there.  
“Alright then! It’s time to begin your second, way better motive!”  
“Yarr! Ye think a secon’ motive is gonna make us kill one another? The hell’s wrong with ye’!?”  
“Nothing! Just where you prefer the white, silky smooth vanilla taste of Hope, I year for the dark, bitter, chocolatey Despair!”  
“Mmm… Chocolate…” Rei says, drooling a bit.  
“Can you think about anything other than food, Rei?” asks Hakayama in surprise.  
“Anyway! We’re not here to discuss our taste in sweets! We’re here for your brand new motive! If you would please take a look inside, I’d be happy to explain!”  
All of us turned to the mailboxes, our IDs in hand. I was immediately the first to go… and inside, there was… a picture. Of my mother.  
“G-Gah!” yells Fuji, from across the room. “Did you-”  
“All of these people are currently in my custody!” yells Monokuma.  
“Your… custody? Wh-What are you gonna do to them!?” Umeko feebly asks.  
“Exactly what you’d think! I’ll kill all of those people in 48 hours!”  
“You… You motherfucker…” Shion angrily shouts from the corner.  
“I-Is there anything we can do to stop it?” Rise asks, crying.  
“Yep! Kill each other!”  
“...”  
“A simple solution, is it not~?” Len says.  
At this, we all looked around again. If any of us seemed untrustworthy before, they certainly were now. The paranoia had reached its max level… and one person in particular was very upset about that.  
“G-Give him back! Now!” Fuji yells, clearly distressed.  
“Mmm…. Nope!” Monokuma says, giggling in the way only a Monokuma can.  
“Th-This is…” Fuji stops. “You have to be fucking joking…”  
“Again, nope!”  
“Fine. I’ll kill someone. Give him back.”  
“Wh-What!? Fuji…” I say in response.  
“Well it’s not that simple! If you killed now, it’d be waaaay too obvious!”  
“...True. Hey, Len.”  
“Yes, Fuji~?”  
“You interested in a partnership?”  
“Ooh, I’m intigued. What would I get out of the deal~?”  
“...Let’s talk about this in private.”  
Fuji and Len walk off, leaving the rest of us in shock. Scared. The paranoia had gone above the maximum level, and everyone could feel it. Scared for my own life at this point, I ran back to my room. Hopefully now nothing terrible will happen.  
I sat down on my bed, and immediately noticed the manga was missing. Iko probably stole it. Or Len. Who knows anymore? Maybe even Fuji, fuck if I know. I’m so done with this… I wish I could just… Pass out and… go to… sleep…

MONOKUMA THEATER #2

“Have you ever heard the expression ‘Life is like a box of chocolates’? It really makes a lot of sense! Some people, the ones willing to do whatever they want, have a solid will! Like the peanut ones! And some can’t stand up for themselves in the slightest! Like cream! But then, there in the middle, you have the mysterious ones. The nougat. Caramel. Hard enough to do what they want, but soft enough to not be noticed. It must be nice being made of nougat, isn’t it, Natsumi?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FTE POLL TIME! Who do you want to see get an FTE next? The now mysterious Fuji? THe group in the medical room? Or perhaps even one of the quiet ones, like Rise? Or Biaro? It’d be a shame if you didn’t know about a potential murderer! ~puhuhu~!  
> https://goo.gl/forms/Mm4mmVcCs3XVvap83


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which shit decides it's done standing at the edge, and jumps into the fan.

    Ugh, another day in this hellhole. my body feels so… heavy. Like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. ...After Fuji exploded last night, I’m officially done caring about these people. I just wish they’d all leave me alone…  
    “Hey! Natsumi!” Iko yells into my ear.  
    I sigh. “Again? Can you stop getting in my personal space? What is this, the fourth day you’ve woken me up?”      
    The girl blushes. “Maybe…”  
    We sit in awkward silence for a moment.  
    “So why did you come here this time?” I ask, getting impatient.  
    “Oh! You missed the bank!”  
    “The… Bank?”  
    “The item bank! You know those weapons Monokuma gave us?”  
    “Yeah?”  
    “Well I had the genius idea of trapping them all in one place! That way, nobody can get them!”  
    “...That sounds like a bad idea…”  
    “What!? No, it’s fine! We have guards there and everything!”  
    But with people like Len around, it doesn’t matter how many guards you have…  
    “R-Right… Why don’t you just let me get ready for the morning, and then I’ll get the thing Monokuma gave me and come out there?”  
    “Okie dokie, artichokey!” Iko says, backing out of the room excitedly.  
    Why can’t she just leave me the fuck alone? I get that she has good intentions, but… Ugh, whatever. This bank thing, right.  
    I get ready for the day, this time ditching the bow. I know Mom wanted me to wear it, but I don’t see how it could be anything but a liability in a killing game. I step out into the hall, where Iko is waiting.  
    “Alrighty~! Did you get your thingamajig?” she asks me.  
    “My… what?”  
    “The item Monokuma gave you, silly!”  
    “Oh, no. I forgot about that, sorry. Let me go get it.”  
I return back to my room, cursing myself for forgetting it and having to take another trip inside. I reach into my nightstand, and… Huh. That’s weird. It’s gone. The manga is gone. That’s… not a good sign, is it? I mean, it’s not like someone could do much with a comic book. I step out into the hall again.  
    “Iko.. bad news.”  
    “Huh? What is it?”  
    “My item… it’s gone.”  
    Iko’s face goes pale. “...Gone?”  
    “Yeah, it just vanished. You think someone stole it? Len, I’d bet.”  
    “I… This is really bad.”  
    “Why? It’s just a dumb comic book.”  
    ‘Exactly! Which means they wouldn’t have stolen it without reason… Which means Len must be planning something, right?”  
    ...She’s not wrong. The only question I have is how you kill someone with a comic book. Papercuts? Maybe? No, that’s dumb. Whatever. I make my way to the lobby, where I find Nagato and Shion talking.  
    “But he could easily doctor the footage, right?” Shion asks, his face red like a tomato.  
    “Human guards couldn’t do any better, you know. A camera will have to do.” Nagato responds casually.  
    “You must be joking! What makes you think we can trust Hidetsugu, of all people?”  
    “How else can we keep the bank safe? Though none of the objects are particularly dangerous, aside from mine, we can’t let a potential killer get their hands on them.” Nagato turns to the doorway, noticing me and Iko.  
    “What was that about?” I ask, curious.  
    “Nothing that concerns you, dear. Did you bring your item, as requested?”  
    “Erm, no… I couldn’t find it.”  
    “Couldn’t… find it? What exactly was your item, Natsumi?” Shion asks.  
    “Uh, a comic book? I think?”  
    Shion and Natsumi look at each other, worriedly. “That explains some things… Thank you for telling us, Natsumi.” Nagato says, face as white as a sheet.  
    “Huh? It does?” Iko asks. “You two aren’t keeping things from me, are you?” She says, visibly upset.  
    “...Well, erm… Let’s talk about this in private, Iko.” She says, looking for me to leave the room.  
    Luckily, I know when I’m not welcome, and leave. Why don’t I just pretend that never happened? Besides...  
FREE TIME START!  
I finally don't have to deal with Iko anymore. I was going to enjoy the silence, but sadly, it didn't take long for that to end. As soon as I step into the halls, I hear somebody running in the distance, moving closer to my position at a rapid rate. "HEY!" I hear a familiar voice shout. By the time I turn around, he already was in front of me. It was Gatchi.  
I sigh before speaking. "What is it now?" I ask, clearly annoyed.  
"Oh! Nothing, I just like talking to my fellow classmates! And I especially like talking with master!" He leans in a little while speaking.  
I take a step, since he’s way too close for comfort. "What do you even see in Nagato?" I ask.  
He jumps in the hair before answering my question “Master has been training me for YEARS now!” he exclaims.   
That only raises more questions for me. “Training? How? She is the SHSL Huntress. Did she just “hunt” you down while you sprinted away?”   
“Well… Yeah, kinda! Except usually her dog is the one that does the chasing, heh~” he says, scratching his head.  
“You mean Kamu? Isn’t he a hunting dog?”  
“Yeah! He chases after me because I’m filled with blood!”  
“...That sounds incredibly dangerous.”  
“Well yeah, but that’s the fun of it!”  
“You think risking your life like that is fun!? You must know how much that mutt wants to kill you, right?”  
“Yeah! But he can never catch me, so it’s fine!” He says, talking excitedly about the concept of being chased by a bloodthirsty animal.  
“...Still though, her methods don’t sound very practical.”  
“Practical, schmactical! Whatever master says works, I agree with!”  
“So you’re not doing it because you enjoy it. You’re doing it because Nagato wants you to.”  
“G-GAH! N-No! I enjoy it! I d-definitely enjoy it! It’s the most fun time the week!” he says, unconvincingly.  
“...Right. How did you two even meet again?”  
“Oh, well, uh, it was after the Tokyo Olympics, so that would be, uh… when was that, again?”  
Well… Let’s see… The Tokyo Olympics… I think that was in…  
2010 / 2020 / 2030  
“That was the 2020 Olympics, right?”  
“Oh, yeah! That wa the year! Anyway, she invited me to join some weird hunting club of hers, I don’t know much about it… She said it was kind of like a game of tag?”  
...Wait. Is he talking about the thing Len mentioned last night? That event where they hunt people and stuff?  
“R-Right… Tag…”  
“It was really cool! They had these huge guns and fancy tracking equipment!”  
“So they were playing tag… with guns?”  
“Uh, yeah! It was super fun! But sadly, I only ever got to go to one…”  
“Only one? Why?”  
“Well, I don’t exactly remember what happened, it’s kind of a blur, but I think I accidently got Master to end the club…”  
“Huh? End the club?”  
“Yeah!” he says, giving a toothy grin. “They never got to play their big hunting game again… And that’s when we started hunting animals together!”  
So she stopped hunting people? That’s news to me… I guess Len was only telling a half truth then, wasn’t he? God damnit Len.  
“So you two have been hunting together for 3 years, then?”  
“Yeah! I’m obviously not as good as Master, but I can hold my own when hunting!”  
“Right… Well, I should probably get going… I have some people I wanted to talk to today…”  
“O-Oh, okay! I get it! Have a nice day, then, Natsumi!”  
“You too, Gatchi.”  
FREE TIME END  
Well he’s certainly… interesting. As I start to wonder who to talk to next, the door to the cafeteria swings open. Nagato, Shion, and a crying Iko step out of the room. Shion, angrily leading the way, storms downstairs. Nagato follows behind, attempting to console Iko along the way. ...Something important seems to be happening. I’m gonna follow them.  
I follow them downstairs, to the water filtration center. That’s… a weirdly specific place to go. I watch them enter, and then observe the room. It’s mostly normal. Aside from one, glaring difference.  
“Th-The water tank!” Iko shouts, pointing to an empty spot on the ground. “I-It’s gone-!?” She is interrupted by Nagato placing her hand over Iko’s mouth.  
“Iko, please. We don’t want to wake up the entire building.” Shion says. “We woke up this morning, with a note on Nagato’s nightstand. It reads the following: ‘Dear Nagato, this game is running much too slow. Don’t you think? This bear is not sufficient with his motives in the slightest. All of his efforts to force us into killing have done nothing yet. Therefore, I have decided to make things interesting. This water tank, the source of water for the entire building, is now gone. It will be returned to all of you if a murder happens. Have a good day. Sincerely, Len Tatane.’ Clearly, this is an issue, no?”  
…! He can’t be serious… Len couldn’t lift something that heavy, even with his talent. Plus, he would need a way of getting it through the doorway, which would be impossible, right? There’s something clearly fishy about all of this, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…  
“Now then. While Len is the most likely culprit, I don’t want anyone jumping to conclusions.” Shion says.  
“W-Well why don’t we just check the handwriting to find out who wrote it?” Iko asks.  
“That’s exactly the issue.” Shion says, turning the note around. It wasn’t written onto the paper. It was made of cut out letters. From a comic book. MY comic book. And that makes me suspect number one. Aside from Len, of course, who can go rot in hell for all I care.  
“So what do we do?” asks Nagato.  
“We tell no one. They have no reason to come down here and discover this is missing, and I intend to keep it that way. We just need to make sure no one else discovers this.” Shion responds.  
At this point, Iko notices me. She just stares at me for a moment, before turning back to the others. Hopefully, she doesn’t tell them I’m there.  
“And what happens when someone wants a cup of water?” asks Nagato, again.  
“We… do our best to keep it hidden. There’s not much else we can do, is there?”  
“I suppose not. We should leave here before people get too suspicious.” She turns back to the entrance, where I am standing just out of their view. I book it up the stairs, with the group trailing close behind me. Looking for a place to hide, I try every door, only to find one of them unlocked. I unlock it and shut it behind me. Finally, I’m safe. I look to my right to see a bed. And on that bed is Rise Minatame, the SHSL Conspiracy Theorist, scared for her life.  
FREE TIME START!  
“G-GAH!” she yells.  
“O-Oh… Hey, Rise…” I say, awkwardly.  
“WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM!?”  
“...I, uh, just wanted to talk to you~!” I say, lying my ass off. “You’ve got so many, uh, life achievements! And things to talk about!”  
“Oh…” She says, blushing. “You really mean that? Most people just see me as a crazy person…” she says, because she is, in fact, a crazy person.  
“Yeah! Of course I mean that! I mean, you’re a published author, right? So you must at least be somewhat legitimate!”  
“Psh… Yeah right.” she says, seeing through my lie. “You haven’t even read my book, have you?”  
“N-No! Of course I have! I love, uh…”  
Shit. What was her book called again? I’ve seen it in bookstores before… Why can I not remember this?  
Guardians of the Heart / But… You’re a horse! / Game of Shadows  
“It’s, uh, Game of Shadows?”  
Rise looks shocked. “You… actually read it?”  
“Yeah! Wasn’t it pretty popular?”  
“Uh, yeah, I guess… But it was almost 5 years ago. You probably don’t remember much, right?”  
“Uh, no… I don’t…”   
“You sure? You must remember something about it, right?”  
“Uh, well there was a guy…”  
“You mean Gyo? The protagonist?”  
“Uh, yeah! That’s who! And he… goes on a journey…”  
“Yeah! He goes to America! You do remember part of it!”  
“Yeah… I think that’s where my memory stops, though…” I say, not wanting to push my luck any further than necessary.  
“Oh! Okay! I can understand that, I guess… Well hey! Once we get out of here, I’d be happy to lend you a copy! I’ve got far too many at home, trust me!”  
“Right, I guess that makes sense…” I stop, realizing something. “Hey, Rise.”  
“Hmm? What is it?”  
“Well you seem to like me a lot more than you did when we first met. I mean, I thought you hated lawyers…”  
“W-Well you’re different… You’re a lawyer who reads my books…”  
“Books? As in plural?”  
“G-GAH! I MESSED UP!” she says, screaming her lungs out.  
“...Huh?”  
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone… I’m writing a sequel…”  
“Oh! I see! And you’re not supposed to tell people? Like it’s some sort of surprise?”  
Rise nods. “It’s for some dumb ad campaign… They called it an “A R G”, I think… It’s so dumb…” she says, pouting.  
Even if I don’t particularly like her, I feel bad looking at such a cute girl pouting like that… I’m just going to get out of here now, while I have the chance. I glance at the clock.  
“Oh, would you look at the time? I need to get going.”  
“Oh, you do? What for?”  
“Uh, I have to talk to… Nagato, about… hunting.”  
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were a hunter…”  
“I, uh, yep! I’m a total hunting fanatic!” I say, lying through my teeth.  
“Okay, then I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”  
“Uh, maybe… We’ll see.” I say, shrugging, and then leave the room.  
FREE TIME END!  
I step out back into the hall… Jesus, time flies. It’s already almost 9:00. I wonder what people out here are up to?  
“I have had enough of your shenanigans, Sir Tatane.” Maso says, pinning him to the wall.  
Len laughs in response. “You have? Well you haven’t been the most successful in stopping me.” He turns to me. “Ah, Natsumi. How are you on this fine evening~?”  
“Fuck you, Len.” I say, sighing.  
Len makes a pretend shocked face. “Oh, what an insult! The lawyer has truly wounded me deeply~! Just with two simple words… “Fuck”, and “You”.” he says, overdramatically and sarcastically.  
Maso punches him in the face. Thank god he’s here. “Just be quiet, Sir Tatane, and this will go much smoother for both of us.”  
Len is clearly upset. “You can’t force me into some sort of interrogation, you realize. You know from experience that I enjoy the pain.”  
Maso lets him go, but forces him into his room.  I also enter my room, hoping to get a good night’s rest.  
And inside, she’s there waiting for me. Fuji Rono.  
“Hey. Do you have a minute?” She asks.  
Isn’t this the girl who threatened murder yesterday...?  
“Y-Yeah…” I say, preparing myself in self defense.  
“I just wanted to apologize for last night. I… wasn’t in my right state of mind.”  
“Yeah. What was that about?”  
“...My brother was there.”  
“...I see.” We stand there in awkward silence for a few minutes, every once in awhile looking back at each other. “So…” I ask. “Is there any other reason you came here?”  
“...Tomorrow morning, talk to Len. He has a message for you.”  
“A message? What is this, a spy movie now?”  
“...Please. Natsumi. Just do it.”  
“Uh, alright. I don’t see what could be so important.”  
“...” Fuji sighs, and steps to the doorway. “You know, Natsumi… I’m glad there’s another sane person here.”  
“Me too, Fuji.” I say, smiling.   
I could have sworn she was crying… Oh well. I’m sure it’ll be explained by Len’s message or whatever. I lie down for a moment, thinking about her… and fall slowly into… a deep… deep… sleep.

MONOKUMA THEATER  
“You know, magicians can be some of the strangest people. I’d think that anyone who practices precise hand motions in quiet, enclosed spaces would be considered weird, don’cha think? But I digress. Now I’m not going to name names, but some of the magicians I’ve met claimed they could do ridiculous things. Some thought they could fly. Some said they could make themselves disappear. Some even claimed that they were better than me! ~Puhuhu~! Such outlandish claims… It’s almost like they want to be hated!”

...I wake up the next morning, early. I had some kind of nightmare, I think. I can’t quite recall the details. Nonetheless, this is not how I expected to wake up. I look to my left. Maybe I should actually wear that bow. Anything from home is valuable in a place like this… and then I notice it. A slip of paper. “Meet me in the cafeteria  immediately for that secret message, Len~” God, what a prick. But if Fuji wants me to talk to him, I might as well. I get ready for the day, and step out into the hall. Two people are out here  this morning. One is Biaro, who appears to be doing some sort of exercise. And right in front of me is a sleeping Iko. Outside of my dorm. This girl literally sleeps in front of my dorm. What a weirdo…  
“Hey.” I say,shaking Iko awake.  
“Wha...huh?” she says, jolted awake. “Oh, sorry… I must’ve fallen asleep out here, waiting for you…”  
“Uh, right… Anyway, we have a couple of hours. What do you wanna-”  
I’m cut off by a scream. The hallway. A girl. Biaro jumps to attention immediately. “Did ye hear somethin’, lass?”  
“I think… it was someone screaming?”  
Iko’s eyes widen in fear, and she uns off in that direction immediately. Biaro and I chase after her, into the hallways, to find a terrified Rise… and the hallways soaked with blood.  
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Biaro yells, dropping the accent.  
“R-Rise! Are you alright?”  
She’s sobbing. “Th-The robots woke me up… And I came to look at them…” What? “And then, i found the hallways like… this…”  
Iko’s eyes wander to the blood trial, and the trail leads straight to the cafeteria. Iko runs there, with me shortly behind. Biaro picks up Rise and follows as well. And before I even see what’s inside the room…  Iko falls over. In a very… compromising position, to say the least. I’ll just spare you the details, since this franchise is already as fanservicey as it gets. Everything after that is a blur. A whoosh sound is heard, and something flies past my face. Something gray. At the front of the stage, there is an explosion. And when the smoke clears, attached to a podium...  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ddiW7xsXPrh0UXBibAUFS1eoNTzhi4hCpYLF9wgmTDY/edit?usp=sharing  
Is Fuji Rono, the SHSL Escape Artist… with a large, silver tank of water a bove her head. I call out to her. But I’m too late. A snapping noise can be heard, and the tank falls down on top of her, crushing Fuji to her death.

“A body has been discovered!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BDA! Yay! I have a question for you all. Is this moving too fast? Like, should I slow down? I feel like these characters deserve a bit more attention before they're killed off, but I don't want to waste time. What do you all think?


	5. Truth Bullets Chapter 1

MONKUMA FILE- “The victim’s name was Fuji Rono. She was the SHSL Escape artist. She was killed in front of others, triggering the body discovery at 9:17 A.M. The cause of death was a large pressure applied to the top of the body, crushing the victim’s spine instantly. There were no other injuries to the body, aside from those caused by the crushing incident.”

BIARO’S ACCOUNT- “The string tying up Fuji was not actually tied around her. The string holding up the tank released when pressure was applied to it.”

IKO’S ACCOUNT- “Iko Sada was the first to arrive to the cafeteria, after following the trail of blood outside. She was led to an empty stage, and as she tried to enter, she fell over, accidentally… exposing herself. After that, a cylindrical object sped past our face, causing an explosion in front of the stage. WHen the smoke had cleared, Fuji was on stage. Moments later, the strings to the water tank snapped, dropping it on her.”

MAYA’S ACCOUNT- “Despite being not just witnessed, but attacked after the Body Discovery Announcement, Len Tatane never opened the door to his room, and was there the entire night.”

RISE’S ACCOUNT- “The night before the night of the murder, Rise heard what she claimed to be robots. The night of the murder, she heard the move upstairs, and then heard noises in her room. Scared, she ran out of her room and stumbled upon the murder.”

SHION’S ACCOUNT- “According to Shion, two items were stolen from the item bank. Nagato’s smoke cannon, and Umeko’s string. The camera footage, supposedly recorded at the time of the theft, the night of the murder, shows Len Tatane grabbing the objects.”

YUKIKO’S ACCOUNT-  “Yukiko was with justice this entire time, and watched over his mech the whole period. The mech itself was broken the entire time.”

BLOOD IN THE HALLS- “This trail of blood leads from the main area to the scene of the crime. For some reason, this trail is especially appealing to Nagato’s dog, Kamu. The blood is red in appearance, and is an incredibly thin layer, as if it were spread onto the ground.”

HOUDINI POSTER- “There is a poster of Harry Houdini in Fuji’s room. In the poster, he is performing his infamous elephant technique, in which he is able to fit an entire elephant through a doorway. Exactly where she got the poster from is a complete mystery.”

KEY- “This key was found in the pocket of the victim, which Rei happily discovered. It is in the shape of a skull.”

KITCHEN MESS- “Every food item in the kitchen cabinets was emptied onto the floor of the room. Exactly why this was done is completely unknown. Perhaps they were looking for something?”

MOOSE HEADS- “These two heads were found on either side of the door to the cafeteria. Their purpose and origin is completely unknown.”

SMOKE CANNON- “This cannon was set in the kitchen, meaning it fired into the cafeteria at some point. A length of rope was tied around the trigger, meaning it would have gone off if pulled on.”

STORAGE ROOM- “The storage room was always locked, until the investigation of this trial. Inside of the room are a strange variety of murderous and confusing objects.”

WATER TANK- “This tank of water was the murder weapon. It was stolen two nights before the murder, and is far too heavy for any one person to carry. Though it is not necessarily true, the killer is most likely the person who stole this.”


	6. The First Investigation

    ...Of course it had to be her… of all people. Fuji… Why would anyone do this? No one here could be that horrible, even if they were annoying sometimes. The only person I could imagine doing that at all is-  
    “Ah, intriguing.” Len says, grinning.   
    “Wh-What… What the fuck…” I am completely at a loss for words.  
    “So someone finally did the deed, eh~? I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, I’m afraid. These people are not as sane as you or I, Natsumi.” he chuckles.  
    I ball my fists, and turn around. I can’t believe him. He’s so obviously the jackass who did it… I just can’t take this anymore. I punch Len in the face, knocking him into the wall.   
    “Ah, that was a mistake, dear. You must have been startled by my sudden appearance, i suppose.” He stands up, and I punch him again. “...Or not? Natsumi. I would not figure you to be one who les their emotions get the best of the-” I punch him again. He’s bleeding at this point, and looks a bit upset. “Could you stop that, please?”  
    At this point, I am reduced to a sobbing mess. “Sh-She… Fuji…”  
    “Yes. She’s dead. Get over it.”  
    I grit my teeth, and am about to punch him again, when a familiar voice appears.  
    “What’s going on here, exactly?” Shion Akagi asks, entering the room. Len chuckles to himself, and motions to the tank of water on stage… the underside of which is covered in blood.  
    “You have to be joking… Actually, no. I can’t say I didn’t call it.”  
    “Wh-What?” I ask, surprised.  
    “It was going to happen eventually. I imagine Nagato will be more shook up about it than me, though.” He shakes his head. “The poor girl…”  
    “...You have to be joking. Do you not care that someone died? At all?”  
    “Of course I care. The rules say that I have to care.”  
    “...That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”  
    “In a game like this, Natsumi, it’s important to not stay attached to anyone. Too much attachment often leads to drama, and that leads to murder.”  
    “Eeeeeeexactly!” Monokuma shouts, appearing from nowhere. I look around the room. At this point everyone has shown up already. Most of them have horrified faces, some of them depressed. Iko, Rise, and Umeko are hugging together, crying. Maso seems like he wants in.  
Nagato is sitting on the floor, shaking wildly. The only people absent are Justice and Gatchi.  
    “Now then! I’m sure you all remember the rules!”  
    “Of course we remember your dumb bloody rules!” shouts Hidetsugu, clearly pissed.  
    “Great! So then it’s time for….” He makes a drumroll noise with his mouth. “The Monokuma File!”  
    “...The what?” Takauji asks, clearly confused.  
    “It’s obvious what this fucker has. It’s an autopsy report, right?” Yukiko asks, pissed off and not smoking for the first time.  
    “Autopsy? Aww man… Is it time for the boring investigation stuff? I just wanted to see a body!” Rei shouts, pouting. “Or I guess in this case I would see… NOBODY! Heh? Get it? Get it? Cuz she’s dead?”  
    “That’s right, kiddos! It’s investigation time, and this is an autopsy report! Aww, you all are so bright! Well, I knew that from the moment one of you bastards finally buried the hatchet and killed one of your classmates! FWAHAHA!”  
    “Just get on with it, bear.” Shion says, angrily.  
    “Alright!” He yells, and a beeping noise comes from our Electro-IDs. A message is displayed.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: MONOKUMA FILE  
    “The victim’s name was Fuji Rono. She was the SHSL Escape artist. She was killed in front of others, triggering the body discovery at 9:17 A.M. The cause of death was a large pressure applied to the top of the body, crushing the victim’s spine instantly. There were no other injuries to the body, aside from those caused by the crushing incident.”  
    ...Jesus, alright. He’s not kidding. We’re solving a murder. God… I can’t believe she’s just gone. I remember talking to her, having casual conversation. I… kinda miss her.  
    “Do ye have anythin’ else to say, ye scoundrel bear?” Biaro asks, threateningly waving his hook hand.   
    “Nope! It’s time for investigation! Hoo boy! I can feel the despair already! ~Puhuhu~!” Monokuma says, disappearing.  
    “Alright. Let’s begin then.” Shion says, determined.  
    “Right… but where do we even start?” Rise asks, mortified by the concept.  
    “That’s easy. Someone needs to guard the body. Preferably two people, so no one person can alter the evidence.” Shion answers.  
    “Yarr! I may not be the brightest buccaneer, but that’s somethin’ I can handle!”  
    “Alright. And I’m staying too!” Rei yells. “I wanna see a real body for once!” He seems incredibly excited about this morbid idea.  
    “That sounds good. Now then. We’re not letting anyone get away with this, no matter what. Right?” Shion asks, being surprisingly motivational.   
    “R-Right!” Iko yells through her tears, obviously buying the bullshit Shion is selling. “Natsumi! You should come with me!”  
    “Huh!? Why me?” I say, momentarily confused.  
    “Well you’re a lawyer! You must be good at investigating, right?”  
    “...Right. Let’s, erm, get started, then.” I say, clearly having no idea what I’m doing. That’s… odd. I’ve done this before. Why can I not… remember? It’s like I have no idea where to begin. My memories are confusing me even more, and now I’m starting to get a headache… God. This is so annoying. It’s almost like… my talent is gone completely. No, that’s not possible. Is it? Regardless, we’re on a time limit. I should hurry.  
    “Well we should probably start at the… body, right?” Iko asks, scared.      
    “Right…” I say, approaching the stage with Iko in tow. Biaro is feebly attempting to lift the massive water tank up. He is obviously failing. Rei is simply sitting in the corner, mumbling to himself. Before we reach there, I stop her.  
    “Wait a second. There’s something I need to ask about before anything else. I know where you were at the time of the murder, but… what did you see?”  
    “...What did I see?”  
    “Well we arrived just as you fell over.” She blushes at me saying this. “Did you see anything before you fell?”  
    “Hmm… Nope! Not even Fuji…”  
    “Not even Fuji? So she appeared when the smoke did?”  
    She thinks about this for a moment, and then nods her head.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: IKO’S ACCOUNT  
    “Iko Sada was the first to arrive to the cafeteria, after following the trail of blood outside. She was led to an empty stage, and as she tried to enter, she fell over, accidentally… exposing herself. After that, a cylindrical object sped past our face, causing an explosion in front of the stage. WHen the smoke had cleared, Fuji was on stage. Moments later, the strings to the water tank snapped, dropping it on her.”  
    “Hmm… Interesting.” I say, lot in thought. How did the killer get her there. And not just how, but why? Wouldn’t it be easier to kill her in secret?   
    “Ay, lasses! Could ye lend cap’n Metaru with a helpin’ ‘and ‘ere?”  
    “Uh, sure. Waddya need?” Iko asks.  
    “This blasted tank a’ sea belch is too heavy for som’n like me! Ye’d need an army ta lift this! ...Or some kind a’ landlubber machinery…”  
    ...Then how did the killer get it here in the first place? Even if Len did somehow steal it, he would’ve needed a method of carrying it…  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: WATER TANK  
    “This tank of water was the murder weapon. It was stolen two nights before the murder, and is far too heavy for any one person to carry. Though it is not necessarily true, the killer is most likely the person who stole this.”  
    “...So you need a way of lifting this thing?” I ask, to clarify.  
    “Yarrr! Precisely, lass!”  
    We step outside of the room, and the first thing we hear is a yelping dog.  
    “G-Gah!” Gatchi shouts. “S-Stay quiet, y-you mangy mutt!” Gatchi is holding a leash to Kamu, Nagato’s dog. Presumably, she had him watch it while she was investigating.  
    “Hey, Gatchi-” Iko asks, approaching the sprinter.  
    “GAH!” He shouts again, whipping around and accidentally punching her in the face. “O-Oh, sorry! Are you alright, miss!?”  
    Iko slowly gets up. “...I’m fine. What’s with the dog?”  
    “You mean Kamu?  Oh, he belongs to master! I’m supposed to try and keep him out here, away from this blood! It’s strange… I thought master trained him not to like the taste of blood anymore… But I guess he’s starting to slip back into old habits, isn’t he?” Gatchi says, pulling back on the dog’s collar.  
“...I suppose.” I say, clouded in thought whether any of this was relevant or not.  
TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: BLOOD IN THE HALLS  
“This trail of blood leads from the main area to the scene of the crime. For some reason, this trail is especially appealing to Nagato’s dog, Kamu. The blood is red in appearance, and is an incredibly thin layer, as if it were spread onto the ground.”  
    At this point, I’m still trying to figure out where I might find something capable of lifting that giant water thing… No! Wait! I know! Justice’s mech! I zoom to the dorm halls, but before I can approach Justice’s room, I find Maya and Maso, still guarding Len’s room.  
    “...What are you two doing?” Asks Iko.  
    “What it looks like, dear. We’re watching Len, to make sure he doesn’t leave his room.” Maso replies.  
    “But he was at the crime scene.” I point out.  
    “I’m sorry?” Maya asks, confusedly. “He hasn’t left his room. We’ve been watching the door all night.”  
    “Well have you looked inside?” Iko asks.  
    Maso and Maya stare at each other briefly, before Maso slams the door open. Inside is Len, with a smug grin on his face. “Why hello, Maso. A lovely day, is it not?” Len asks.  
    Maso grits his teeth and slams the door closed. “See? He never left. You’re simply imagining things.”  
    That’s odd. But then again, most things about Len are odd. Perhaps I shouldn’t question it… Or should I?  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: THE STATE OF LEN  
    “Despite being not just witnessed, but attacked after the Body Discovery Announcement, Len Tatane never opened the door to his room, and was there the entire night.”  
    We pass the two of them now, making our way to the room of Yukiko, that Justice is still recovering in. Upon knocking on the door, an angry Yukiko is there to greet us.  
    “I’ve told you fuckers a million times! I- Oh. Natsumi. Sorry about that. Shion keeps bugging me about Justice.”  
    “About Justice? Why?” I ask.  
    “Well he thinks his mech is the only thing that could’ve lifted the water thingy. But as I’ve told him 4 fucking times, that’s bullshit. The mech was here the whole time, and even so, that fucking bear still hasn’t fixed it yet. It’s bullshit. All of it is.”  
    Hmph. well there goes that idea.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: YUKIKO’S ACCOUNT  
    “Yukiko was with justice this entire time, and watched over his mech the whole period. The mech itself was broken the entire time.”  
    We wave goodbye to her, and move on to the next logical step- The victim’s room. WE step inside, and… not much is special. On the floor is a bed and a nightstand, like my room. The only thing special about hers is the poster on her wall.   
    “Who in the world is that…” I ask, glaring at the painting.  
    “Oh! It looks like Houdini.” Iko responded.  
    “You… know what Houdini looks like? I guess that’s not too surprising, given you know how to pick locks…”  
    “Yeah! And my photo… photo…”  
    “Photographic memory?”  
    “Yup! That’s what it’s called!”  
    Sigh. “Right. I guess that explains the elephant in the poster then.”  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: FUJI’S POSTER  
    “There is a poster of Harry Houdini in Fuji’s room.  In the poster, he is performing his infamous elephant technique, in which he is able to fit an entire elephant through a doorway. Exactly where she got the poster from is a complete mystery.”  
    Ugh, this was useless too…   
    “You think Biaro found a way of lifting that thing?” Iko asks.  
    “...Good question. Let’s check on him.”  
    We return to the cafeteria, and inside is Biaro, standing above a pool of blood. Rei is standing next to him, gidddy that he gets to look at a corpse, the morbid fuck. Either Biaro managed to lift it, or we have another corpse somehow. Hopefully it’s the former, but if it’s the latter, I blame Rei.  
    “Hey! You managed to lift it!” Iko says, excitedly.  
    “What’s the body like?” I ask, coldly.  
    “Well we found this!” Rei yells, proudly displaying a key in the shape of a skull. “I got to dig through the corpse’s pockets! It was super fun!”  
    “...Right. Mind if I see that?” I ask, while Iko is hyperventilating over what Rei just said.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: SKELETON KEY  
    “This key was found in the pocket of the victim, which Rei happily discovered. It is in the shape of a skull.”  
    “Yarr! That’s right, lass! Cap’n Metaru just ‘ad to make a pulley wit’ some rope! No problem for a cap’n like me!”  
    “Oh, right. You’re the SHSL Fisherman… Wait a second. You were there for the murder, right? Did you happen to see the knots tying this thing up?” I ask.  
    “Of course, lass! It’s the first thing me eyes went ta! Ye got a dissolvin’ knot and a fool’s knot! What useless knots…”  
    “...And that means what, exactly?”  
    “Ah! Well, yer’ dissolvin’ knots slowly come undone after ye pull both ends a’ tha rope! That was used ta’ hold up the tank, lass! And the fool’s knot, well, it’s what it sounds like! It’s a fake knot! That’s the one tied around Miss Rono, ya hear?”  
    So Fuji wasn’t actually tied up? That makes no sense at all…  
    TRUTH BULLET ADDED: BIARO’S ACCOUNT  
    “The string tying up Fuji was not actually tied around her. The string holding up the tank released when pressure was applied to it.”  
    “But Biaro… that only answers some questions. What about the string itself? Where did it come from?”  
    “Ye think I know, lass? I’m jus’ a fisherman. All I know is, this rope’s not just thin, but fairly strong! Must’ve cost the owner a pretty penny! Yarr!”  
Right. And looking at the direction this string goes, it’s aiming directly toward the doorway… But as I begin walking in the direction the string points, I hear a yelp from Iko. Turning around, I see she cut her leg on… A moose head? What? Why is there a moose head there? And on the other side of the door, also? I can understand them being there for decoration, but why are they so low in that case?  
TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: MOOSE HEADS  
“These two heads were found on either side of the door to the cafeteria. Their purpose and origin is completely unknown.”  
“Iko! Are you alright? Why are you being so clumsy today?”  
“I-I’m fine, Natsumi… I just cut myself on these… weird things. Let’s get going.”  
We continue onward, going straight from the door. That leads us straight to the kitchen. Inside of there, there’s a lot to take in. On one side of the room, a crying Rise is trying to desparately clean up a huge mess, that looks as if someone took everything out of the cabinets. On the other, is Nagato, who appears to be examining… a cannon!?  
“What the fuck is that and how did it get here!?” I ask, confused as hell.  
“This is a smoke cannon. It’s primary use is smoking out prey from a distance, essentially bringing them straight to you. It’s an incredibly useful tool on prey that live in packs.” Nagato responds, clearly upset.  
“H-Hey, Nagato… Are you alright?” Iko asks, soothingly.  
“This is my fault… I was supposed to be your leader, and now look at what happened. A murder. On my watch.”  
...Shion honestly looked like he did more work, but I’m not going to try to correct her when she’s in a state like this.  
“So is there anything special about the cannon?” I wonder out loud.  
“Yes, the string. There was a length of string, facing the doorway. It was tied to the trigger.” Nagato says, crying her eyes out.  
TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: SMOKE CANNON  
“This cannon was set in the kitchen, meaning it fired into the cafeteria at some point. A length of rope was tied around the trigger, meaning it would have gone off if pulled on.”  
Alright then. Now for the other mess in the kitchen… Rise.  
“Hey, Rise! How are you?” Iko asks.  
Rise immediately latches onto her, and begins crying. “TH-THE ROBOTS!”  
“...The what?” I ask.  
“I-I heard them the night before also! These robot noises in the basement! A-And the night of the murder, I-I heard them again! But this time they came upstairs! A-and not just that… Then I heard them in my room somewhere! These super loud clanking noises! THE ROBOTS! And so I left, a-and then I saw the b-blood… IT WAS THE ROBOTS! THEY’RE THE KILLERS!”  
TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: RISE’S ACCOUNT  
“The night before the night of the murder, Rise heard what she claimed to be robots. The night of the murder, she heard the move upstairs, and then heard noises in her room. Scared, she ran out of her room and stumbled upon the murder.”  
“Anyway, Rise. What are you up to now?” Iko asks, trying to soothe her.  
“Hmph. I’m cleaning up the mess left behind by those nasty machines.”  
“Mess? What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.  
Rise motions to the pile of food on the floor. “Those monsters took everything out of the cabinets, and threw it on the floor! Well I’ll tell them this… In the name of Rise Minatame! I! Will! ...Write an essay about how they definitely exist! Yeah! That’ll show them!”  
“Right.” I am clearly done with these people. I have a feeling that’s never going to change.  
TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED… AGAIN!: KITCHEN MESS  
“Every food item in the kitchen cabinets was emptied onto the floor of the room. Exactly why this was done is completely unknown. Perhaps they were looking for something?”  
Not wanting to deal with Robot girl any longer, we make our way downstairs.  
Strangely enough, the storage room is unlocked… Monokuma must have unlocked it for the investigation. Curious, we step inside of the room.  The walls are lined with a variety of strange, nonsensical objects... Computers, decorations, fine china, collectible action figures, comic books, a fucking bulldozer, you name it. It’s all here, in the storage room.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: STORAGE ROOM  
    “The storage room was always locked, until the investigation of this trial. Inside of the room are a strange variety of murderous and confusing objects.”  
    Sitting at the center of the room, typing away at a laptop, is the biggest asshole in the room- Shion Akagi.  
    “Shion. What’s going on?” Iko asks.  
    “Hmm? Oh, I’m checking the security camera.”  
    “You what?” I say, confused.  
    “You heard me. Hidetsugu earned a video camera as his object, and we put it to good use watching over the item bank.”  
    “Well why would you need to look at it? Was something stolen?” Iko asks.  
    Shion sighs. “Yes. I may as well tell you, so we’re on equal footing for this. Puppeteering string, belonging to Umeko. A smoke cannon, belonging to Natsumi. Both of these items were almost assuredly involved in the murder.” A beeping noise comes from the computer. “It’s ready then. Feel free to watch with me, ladies.” He says, clicking play on the video.  
    In the video, the items are laid out evenly. Nothing seems to happen, but in a flash, a figure appears, snatches the items, and dissapears. Shion replays the video, and there’s no mistaking it… The person who stole those objects…  
    Is the SHSL Thief, Len Tatane.  
    TRUTH BULLET DISCOVERED: SHION’S ACCOUNT  
    “According to Shion, two items were stolen from the item bank. Nagato’s smoke cannon, and Umeko’s string. The camera footage, supposedly recorded at the time of the theft, the night of the murder, shows Len Tatane grabbing the objects.”  
    A voice plays over the loudspeakers. “Attention, students! It’s time for the ultra-exciting, heart-pounding adventure we on the biz like to call… THE CLASS TRIAL! As soon as you can, make your way to the elevator! Then we can finally get this show on the road!”


End file.
